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GUANO: 



CONTAINING 



PLAIN DIRECTIONS HOW TO APPLY PERUVIAN GUANO 



TO THE VARIOUS 



CROPS AND SOILS OF AMERICA, 



BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF ITS HISTORY, LOCALITY, QUANTITY, METHOD OF PROCUK- 

ING, PROSPECT OF CONTINUED SUPPLY, AND PRICE ; ANALYSIS OF 

ITS COMPOSITION, AND VALUE AS A FERTILIZER, 

OVER ALL OTHER MANURES. 



■' If the experience of the last few years has taught us one thing more certainly than another 
it is the unfailing excellence of Guano for every kind of crop which requires manure." 



PEEPAKED AND PUBLISHED 
V 

BY SOLON EJUB^INSON, 

FOR 

MESSRS. F. BARREDA & BROTHER, 

AGENTS FOB THE PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT AT BALTIMORE; 

AMI 

THEODORE W. RILEY, ESQ., THEIR AGENT IN NEW TORK 



NEW YORK: 
1853. 



Enter«d according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, by 

SOLON ROBINSON, 

In the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern Distrft 
of New York. 






INTBOBirCTION 



Th« rapidly increasing use of guano, in the United States, and the 
growing conviction upon the public mind, that it is the cheapest and 
best purchasable manure in the world, together with the fact of a great 
want of information among American farmers, as to the best mode of 
applying it to the soil, has induced the agents of the Peruvian Govern- 
ment for the sale of guano in the United States, to employ the author of 
this pamphlet to collect and publish such information. 

It is hoped the favorably and well known name of the author, as an 
agricultural writer and traveller, together with his extended opportu- 
nities of witnessing the application and effect of guano upon the various 
soils and climates of this country, will give this work such a character, 
as to induce every improving farmer, gardener, or horticulturist, in 
America to give it a careful perusal. The author believes it will be' 
found to contain all and much more than its title imports, and be of 
great value to every person using or dealing in guano ; as the analysis, 
not only of the pure article is given, but that of several specimens of 
adulterated samples, so as to enable the farmer to avoid being cheated 
by base counterfeits. 

The author will be much obliged to any gentleman who will furnish 
him for publication in future editions of this work, or in the columns of 
The Acricultor, any details of experiments in the use of Peruvian guano, 
which will be useful to the farmers of this country, as it is his desire, as 
well as the guano agents, to give them useful facts ; not only to increase 
the sale, but the fertility of the land, and wealth of the owners. 

With assurances to my friends that I have no other interest in the in- 
creased consumption of guano, I am most sincerely and respectfully 

Your old Friend, 

Solon Robihsoh. 

New York, October 1862. 



A TREATISE ON GUANO. 



PERUVIAN GUANO— ITS USES AND BENEFITS. 

Of all manures procurable by the American Farmer, guano from the 
rainless islands of Peru, is perhaps not only the most concentrated — the 
most economical to the purchaser — but by its composition, as we will 
show by analysis, the best adapted to all the crops cultivated in this 
country requiring manure. For wheat, especiall)', it is the one thing 
needful. The mineral constituents of cultivated plants, as will also be 
shown by analysis, are chiefly lime, magnesia, potash, soda, chlorine, 
sulphuric and phosphoric acid ; all of which will be found in Peruvian 
guano. Nitrogen, the most valuable constituent of stable or compost 
manures, exists in great abundance in guano, in the exact condition re- 
quired by plants to promote rapid vegetation. The concentration of all 
these valuable properties in the small bulk of guano, renders it particu- 
larly valuable to farms situated in districts unprovided with facilities of 
cheap transportation. In some hilly regions, it would be utterly impos- 
sible to make any ordinary manure pay for transportation. With guano 
the case is very different — one wagon will carry enough with a single 
pair of horses to dress 12 or 15 acres; while of stable manure it would 
require as many or more loads to each acre to produce the same effect. 

But this is not the greatest advantage in the use of this fertilizer ; the 
first application puts the land in such condition, that judicious after cul- 
tivation renders it continuously fertile by its own action of productive, 
ness and reproductiveness of wheat, clover and wheat, by turning in 
the clover of one year for the wheat of the next, and by returning the 
straw back to the ground where it grew, spread upon the surface to 
shade the plants of clover and manure its roots, which in turn manure 
the corn or wheat. 

As a source of profit alone, we should recommend the continuous 
application of Guano; knowing as we do, from our extensive means of 
observation, that no outlay of capital ever made by the farmer, is so 



sure and certain to bring him back good returns for his money, as when 
he invests it in this invaluable fertilizer for his impoverished soil. In 
proof of this, we shall give the reader of this little work a number of ex- 
periments made by some of the most improving farmers in Virginia and 
other States. 

EFFECTS PRODtrOBD BY THE USE OF GUANO IN VIRGINIA. 

In no other part of the world, perhaps, can the beneficial effects of 
Guano be more plainly seen than in the tide-water region of Virginia. 
In the counties of King George, Westmoreland, Richmond, Northumber- 
land, Lancaster, in the northern neck, as the peninsula between the Po- 
tomac and Rappahanock is termed ; thousands of acres of land so poor 
and worthless a few years ago, it was barely rated as property, are now 
annually producing beautiful crops of wheat, corn and clover, solely 
by the application of Guano. In the meantime, the discovery of such 
an easy means of improving a worn out and barren soil, has increased 
the money value of land three or four hundred per cent. This is not 
all. Heretofore, the only part of this district considered worth cultiva- 
tion was the bottom land bordering the rivers and creeks ; the forest 
land yielding scanty crops for two or three years after being cleared, 
scarcely paying for the labor, while its value was rated at from $1 to $4 
per acre, and unsaleable at that. Since the introduction of Guano, it is 
found these forest lands, which are of a sandy, loamy character, and 
much more pleasant than the bottom lands to till, can be cultivated with 
equal or greater profit than the stiff lands upon the bottoms. The writer 
has seen repeatedly in the counties mentioned, luxuriant fields of wheat, 
corn and clover, while directly alongside of such crops, the ground was 
almost as bare of vegetation as the sea-shore sands, too poor, as the 
common expression is there, to bear poverty grass. And what produced 
this change 1 Simply a dressing of 200 lbs. of Guano to the acre. 

DR. FAIRFAX'S EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO. 

In April 1850 the writer was on the farm of Dr. Fairfax of King George 
county, who was one of the first, if not quite the first person in that part 
of the State who ever made use of this substance as a manure; and his 
wheat was then so large that a good sized dog was hidden from view in 
running through the field ; while upon a neighbering piece of land of 
exactly the same quality, sowed at the same time, the ground scarcely 
looked green ; in fact, it was remarked at the time by way of contrast 
to the one field hiding a dog, that the other would not hide a chicken — 
indeed, an egg might have been seen as far as though no wheat was 



growing upon the ground. Both fields were just alike, both plowed and 
sowed alike, without manure, except 200 lbs of Peruvian guano upon 
one, and that sure to bring fifteen or twenty bushels to the acre, while 
the other would not exceed three bushels. 

One of his first trials was with the African, of which he applied 400 
lbs. to the acre upon 27 acres, which would not produce three bushels 
of wheat to the acre, in its natural condition, but with this application, 
notwithstanding it was 32 per cent, water, and, consequently, had lost 
much of it ammonia, he made an average of 12|- bushels to the acre on 
the whole field. Upon another, he increased the usual average yield 
from 8 to 18 bushels, while, in his opinion, the permanent improvement 
of the land was of greater value than the increased yield of the first 
crop ; for now clover will grow where none would grow before ; an- 
other advantage arising from guano is, the wheat ripens so much earlier 
(15th of June) it escapes the rust, so apt to blight that which is late 
coming to maturity. He now sows wheat in the fore part of September, 
three pecks to the acre, after having previously plowed in 200 lbs. of 
Peruvian guano to the acre, and after the first harrowing sows the 
clover seed. The land is^ a yellow clay loam, uneven surface, very 
much worn ; in fact, without the guano, and with all the manui-e that 
could be made upon the farm — for no straw no manure — not worth cul- 
tivating. Dr. F. had been using guano three years, at the date of our 
visit, and thought his prospect good for a thousand bushels of wheat 
upon the same ground, which, without guano would not produce one 
hundred and fifty. 

MR. NEWTON'S EXPERIMENTS. 

The Hon. Willoughby Newton, of Westmoreland County, was one of 
the earliest and most successful experimenters in the use of guano in 
Virginia. He owns large and productive farms on the Potomac, but on 
account of the forest land being more healthy for a' residence, he 
bought a tract of it for that purpose; not having any design of ever 
putting it into cultivation. In fact, it was so poor he could not. The 
manure of the farm, if it had not been wanted there, was several miles 
distant — too far to haul ; and so the land lay an uncultivated, unprofita- 
ble barren waste around his fine mansion ; but it did not lay so very 
long after he discovered the renovating power of guano. It is now an- 
nually covered with broad fields of wheat, from which he has realized 
upwards of twenty bushels to the acre; and the most luxuriant growths 
of clover upon which he can pasture any amount of stock he pleases, 
where three years previous a goat would have found ditficulty in sus- 



8 

taining life. Mr. Newton's first experiment — what was then an experi- 
ment is now a certainty — was made with African guano. But we will 
give the account of his operations in his own straight- for ward, easily 
understood, farmer-like language. 

" In the effect of guano, especially the Peruvian, I have never been dis- 
appointed, I have used it now for four years, with entire satisfaction 
having each year been induced to enlarge my expenditure, until last 
year it reached eight hundred dollars, and for the crop of wheat this 
fall it exceeds one thousand. I have observed with astonishment its 
effect in numerous instance on the poor " forest lands" alluded to in a 
former part of this address. What the turnip and sheep husbandry have 
done for the light lands of Great Britain, the general use of guano pro- 
mises to do for ours. Lands a few years ago deemed entirely inca- 
pable of producing wheat, now produce the most luxuriant crops. From 
15 to 20 bushels for one sowed, is the ordinary product on our poorest 
lands, from the application of 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano. I may re- 
mark, it is not usual, in Eastern Virginia, to sow mofe than a bushel of 
wheat to the acre, and that I deem amply sufficient. Upon this subject 
I hope a few details may not be considered tedious or uninteresting. I 
applied last fall $350 worth of guano, partly Peruvian and partly Pata- 
gonian, on a poor farm " in the forest," which cost a few years ago four 
dollars an acre, and reaped 1089 bushels of beautiful wheat from 78 
sowed. Forty-six bushels were sowed on fallow, (both guano and wheat 
put in with the cultivator, followed by a heavy harrow,) and yielded 790 
bushels or over 17i for one. A considerable part of this was dressed 
with Patagonian guano, and was much inferior to the other portion. A 
lot on which 15 bushels was sowed, and dressed with Peruvian guano, 
was threshed separately, and yielded 301 bushels, or over 20 for one. 
The whole cost of the farm was $1520, and I have good reason to ex- 
pect with a favorable season from the crop now sowed and dressed with 
guano, a bushel of wheat for every dollar of the prime cost of the farm. 
Many other instances of profit from the use of guano, equally striking 
have occurred among my neighbors and friends, but I confine myself to 
those stated, because having come under my immediate observation, I 
can vouch for their entire accuracy. It has been frequently objected 
to the use of guano, that it is not permanent. It would be unreasonable 
to expect great permanent improvement from a manure so active, and 
which yielded so large a profit on the first crop. Yet I have seen some 
striking evidences of its permanency in heavy cropsof clover, succeeding 
wheat, and in the increase of the crop of wheat on a second application. 
As an instance, I may mention that two years ago I sowed upon a single 
detached acre of" forest land," one bushel of wheat and dressed it with 
a barrel of African guano, costing $4, and the yield was seventeen 



bushels. Last fall the same land, after remaining one year in clover, 
was again sowed with one bushel of wheat and dressed with 140 lbs. of 
Peruvian guano, costing ,$3, and the product was 22 bushels. Yet I 
would advise no one to rely upon guano exclusively. Its analysis shows 
that it contains salts of ammonia, alkaline phosphates and the other min- 
eral elements necessary to produce the grain of wheat, but is deficient 
in most of the elements of the straw and roots of the plants. Hence, 
(says Liebig) ' a rational agriculturist, in using guano, cannot dipense 
with stable dung.' We should, therefore, be careful not to exhaust 
the soil of organic manures, but by retaining the straw of the wheat, 
and occasionally a crop of clover, which plant contains a large percent- 
age of the alkaline carbonates, which are entirely wanting in Guano, 
furnish all the elements necessary to the entire wheat plant. In this 
view of the subject, and for many other reasons that I cannot stop to 
enumerate, there cannot be, when guano is extensively used, a more 
judicious rotation than the Pamunky five field system, in which clover 
occupies a prominent place. I have now enumerated some of the most 
prominent means by which you may " keep your land rich." I would 
not discourage the use of others. Science is daily making discoveries in 
the art of enriching the earth, and we should discard nothing, without a 
trial, which promises to be useful; always bearing in mind that the 
wisest economy is entirely consistent with the most liberal expenditure, 
in the purchase of manures, provided we take care, by judicious experi- 
ments and observation, to ascertain their efficacy, and that we get back 
our capital, with an actual net profit in cash, on all our investments. This 
latter caution is indispensable, in our country, where new lands are so 
abundant and cheap, that highly improved farms can never be rated in 
the market at their true value. 

"The various manures compounded by chemists and manufacturers, 
should also engage your careful attention. They should not be reckless- 
ly thrown aside as humbugs, withouftrial or investigation, nor adopted 
and extensively used with blind confidence in their efficacy. I have 
used many of these manures by way of experiment, and the profit rea- 
lized upon them has not justified me in enlarging my operations. Poud- 
rette, manufactured in Baltimore ; Bommers manure, Chappel's fertili- 
zer and Kentish & Co.'s prepared guano, (used, it is true, upon a small 
scale,) have not realized the promises made in their behalf Yet I would 
by no means discourage the praiseworthy efforts of the manufacturers, 
and hope they will persevere until, by lessening the bulk and increasing 
the power of their compounds, they may be able to prepare an article 
that for cheapness, convenience of application and efficacy, shall equal 
or surpass the best Peruvian guano." 



10 

That dissideratum, Professor Mapes believes he has already attained 
by the addition of superphosphate of lime to the Guano, making a com- 
pound of two-thirds of the latter to one of the former, more valuable by 
weight than the pure article. That being the case will greatly increase 
the consumption of Guano, and greatly improve the condition of all that 
class of farmers who desise to make their poor lands rich. 

Of the use of lime, Mr. Newton has the following testimony, which we 
embody here for its great practical value. 

" Calcareous matter is the great want of most of our lands, and in some 
form is essential to permanent improvement. It should be regarded as 
the basis of all our operations, and never to be dispensed with for any 
substitute. From long experience in the use of lime, I am satisfied that 
the French plan, of light and frequent dressings, is not only much more 
economical, but much safer, in our climate, than the heavy dressings 
common in Great Britain. Fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, I 
have found amply sufficient for any of our lands, and a greater quantity 
often attended with injury to the soil and crops, whilst twenty-five bush- 
els will answer every purpose on thin lands, deficient in vegetable 
matter. Ashes, bone dust, and the various marine manures that abound 
on the shores of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, will be found im- 
portant auxiliaries in the work of ' keeping your lands rich,' whilst the 
necessity of clover and the proper grasses, to any system of perma- 
nent improvement, is too obvious to require comment." 

Although caustic lime should never be used in connection, or so as to 
come in contact with the Guano, there is no doubt of its being a valu. 
able auxiliary. Upon land limed this year. Guano may be used next, 
and if mixed with charcoal or plaster, or plowed in and thoroughly in- 
corporated with the soil, especially if it contains a considerable portion 
of clay, no loss of ammonia will occur, in consequence of the action of 
the lime. On the contrary, the effect will be to make the action of the 
Guano more active, and the immediate benefit greater ; though, of course 
the succeeding crops would not receive as great a share. But, as Mr 
Newton says, ought we to ask for great advantages to succeeding crops, 
from a manure which gives us such great profits from the present one. 

From our notes taken upon the spot, we give a few items more in de- 
tail of Mr. Newton's operations, than he has done in the preceding quo 
tations. The tract of land he speaks of is gently undulating ; of a sandy 
loam, with a greater amount of clay in the subsoil; had been literally 
loom out in former years by the shallow plowing, skinning system of 
farming, until it would produce no more, when it was abandoned and 
suffered to grow up again in forest timber, principally pine of the "old 
field" species. No land could oifer less inducements to the cultivator 
or give smaller hope of renovation, than these old fields of Virginia. Such 



It 

was the conviction of impossibility to raise a crop upon this kind of 
land, that Mr. Newton's first essay was looked upon by his neighbors 
with a conviction that the fool and his money would suon part company. 
One sensible old servant told us he thought his master "for sartain was 
done gone crazy, cause he nebbef seed no nothing grow on dat land, no 
how could fix him." The negroes, wherever guano has been intro- 
duced, have been violently opposed to using it ; not alone from its dis- 
agreeable odor and effect upon the throat and nostrils while handling 
it in a dry state; but because they could not be persuaded that such a 
small measure of stuff— 200 lbs. measures about three bushels — could 
possibly produce any effect upon the crop. Their astonishment and 
consequent extravagant laudation of the effect produced, has often afford- 
ed us hours of amusement while listening to their recital of " massa's big 
crop," of perhaps ten bushels to the acre, which was at least double that 
of any one ever seen upon the same field, "fore he put dem little pinch 
of snuff on him." 

The increase of wheat from guano may be safely calculated upon at five 
bushels for each hundred weight of guano used, one year with another* 
and up to what may be considered a fair judicious amount to be applied? 
which may be set down at an average of 200 lbs to the acre, upon 
all light soils, similar to those of that part of the country we are writ- 
ing about. 

GtTANO vs. MANURE— EFFECTS UPON HEAVY LAND. 

Mr. Newton related to us an anecdote of some value upon this point. 
On one of his Potomac farms, a portion of the land is exceedingly heavy 
— pewtery land, as it is termed from its tendency when wet to run to- 
gether, presenting a glistening appearance somewhat resembling that 
metal. His overseer was about as unbelieving as the negroes, and de- 
clared he could beat the guano bj'' expending the same value in manure 
upon a given quant.ty of surface. To test this and also to try its effect 
upon the stiff land, he applied a little short of one ton of Peruvian, which 
cost $50 upon ten acres, and promised a premium to the overseer if he 
could make a greater crop by the use of all the manure, men and teams 
he saw fit to apply to another ten acres lying right along side, and of 
the same quality of soil. Of course he spared no labor, using both 
lime and manure freely, but in the spring finding the appearance of his 
crop unequal to to that guanoed, he gave it a top dressing of fine manure 
and a good working with the harrow. At harvest the guanoed portion 
was ready for the sickle several days earlier than the other, and yield- 
ed 135 bushels of a quality so very superior, it was all reserved for seed 
for himself and neighbors. 



12 

The product of the other was 65 bushels; difference in favor of the 
guano, 80 bushels — 8 bushels to the acre — while the value of extra ma- 
nuring, probably exceeded the cost of guano, without any material ad- 
vantage in the effect upon succeeding crops. In fact, it is probable, that 
the additional growth of straw and clover would be worth more to the 
next crop on the guanoed portion, than the undecomposed manure and 
lime would be in the other. It is needless to say both overseer and ser- 
vants, were fully convinced of the virtue of guano after this experiment. 

According to our notes, Mr. Newton first used guano in 1846 — one ton 
of Ichaboe at $30, on 8 acres, with 8 bushels of seedj upon land so dead- 
ly poor, that an old negro we conversed with said ; " him so done gone 
massa, wouldn't grow poverty grass nuff to make hen's nest for dis nig- 
ger." No attempt had been made for years to grow any crop, not even 
oats or rye, the last effort of expiring nature to yield sustenance to man 
upon one of those old worn out Virginia farms. Think of the astonish- 
ment of the poor negro, who thought his master crazy to sow wheat 
there without manure, to see 88 bushels harvested from the 8 acres. 

In 1847, he used $100 worth of Patagonian upon same kind of land 
and reaped 330 bushels. In 1848, $200 worth of Patagonian and Chilian 
at $40 and $30 a ton, gave 540 bushels, which sold at $1 25, mostly for 
seed, on account of its superior quality. In each case the advantage 
to the land of equal value as to the crop. In 1849, he applied 10 tons 
Peruvian at $47, and 11 tons Patagonian at $30, upon 260 acres, from 75 
to 250 lbs. to the acre. When we saw this crop the next spring, the 
appearance in favor of the Peruvian, was fully 50 per cent, upon the 
same cost of each kind per acre. 

In 1850 he applied 30 tons, of course, all Peruvian, with equal success 
to former years. 

Mr. Newton says, the second application of guano to the same land 
produces the best result — that notwithstanding the profit of the first ap- 
plication in the increased crop, the profit to the land is always greater. 

Before leaving Mr. Newton, we will place on record one expression 
highly creditable to him, and convincing in its palpable truth of the 
value put upon this fertilizer, by a gentlemen of sound judgment and 
candor of speech, equal to any other within the circle of our acquaint- 
ance. 

"I look upon the introduction of guano and the success attending its 
application to our barren lands, in the light of a special interposition of 
Divine Providence, to save the northern neck of Virginia from reverting 
entirely into its former state of wilderness and utter desolation. Until 
the discovery of guano — more valuable to us than the mines of Califor- 
nia — I looked upon the possibility of renovating our soil, of ever bring- 
ing it up to a point capable of producing remunerating crops as utterly 



13 

hopeless. Our up-lands were all worn out, and our bottom lands fast 
failing, and if it had not been for guano, to revive our last hope, a few 
years more and the whole country must have been deserted by all who 
desired to increase their own wealth, or advance the cause of civilization 
by a profitable cultivation of the earth." 

We are satisfied that the above opinion will be considered of more 
value — more conclusive in favor of guano, by all who are acquainted 
with the character of Willoughby Newton, than all else contained in the 
pages of this pamphlet. 

OTHER WITNESSES IN VIRGINIA m FAVOR OF GXTANO. 

As our principal object is to convince the skeptical, or induce unbe- 
lievers in its efficacy and value, to try experiments themselves by which 
they will be convinced and enriched, we offer the names of a few more 
gentlemen of high standing, who have been very fortunate in the use of 
this essential element of successful cultivation in Virginia, as witnesses, 
whose testimony ought to be, and will be, where they are known entirely 
conclusive. 

Col. Robert W. Carter, of Sabine Hall, on the Rappahanock, whose land 
is principally of that kind of clayey loam common upon that river, once 
rich but badly worn by cultivation, is so well satisfied that it is profit- 
able to make rich lands still more rich, he buys annually 30 or 40 tons 
of the best in market. He says he cannot afford to so wheat without 
guano — it is foolish and unprofitable. He sows it broad cast, 200 lbs to 
the acre, with no other preparation than breaking the lumps ; plows it 
in ; sows wheat and harrows that ; in some cases has sown clover, and 
in others, followed wheat after wheat with increasing productiveness 
every year; clearly proving the effect of one application, to be benefi- 
cial to the succeeding crop. Without guano, or very high manuring, 
wheat will deteriorate year after year, if sown upon the same soil, until 
the product would not pay for the labor of sowing and harvesting. 

Upon one upland field, which without manure would not pay for cul- 
tivation, he sowed one bushel of wheat and 200 lbs. Peruvian guano and 
made fifteen bushels. Plowed down the stubble with same application, and 
when we saw the crop, should have been willing to insure it at twenty- 
rive bushels. Col. C. has nearly 2,000 acres in cultivation, which within 
his recollection was cultivated entirely with hoes — his grandfather would 
not use a plow — was as much set against that great land improver as 
some modern, but no more wise farmers, are against guano. Col. C. uses 
the best of plows ; sows 200 lbs. guano to the acre and plows it in six 
inches deep, and sows one bushel of wheat and harrows thoroughly, but 
not deep enough to disturb the guano. His gain has been eight bushels ave- 



14 

age upon 210 lbs. guano. Thinks Peruvian at $50 a ton preferable to 
any other at current prices. His land is mostly clayey loam and was so 
much exhausted by a hundred years hard usage, it was barely able to 
support the servants, until the Colonel commenced his system of improv- 
ments by draining, deep plowing, rotation of crops, lime, plaster, clover, 
and guano; the latter of which he look? upon as the salvation of lower 
Virginia ; while his large sales of eight or ten hundred acres of corn and 
wheat, sufficiently attest its value upon that location. His actual an- 
nual profits upon the use of guano, cannot be less than two thousand 
dollars. 

Doctor Brockenborough, Doctor Gorden, Messrs. Dobyn, Micou.Garnett 
and others of Tappahannock and vicinity, have all found the application 
even upon the bottom lands, profitable, though not to so great an extent 
as upon the poor old field-pine lands of Mr. Newton ; but simply from the 
reason that his land was utterly worthless before, but after the applica- 
tion of the guano, was increased in value more than its whole cost, besides 
the profit derived from the crop. 

Wm. D. Nelson, a neighbor of Mr. Newton, bought a tract of land for 
a residence, at $4 an acre, which in its natural condition was not worth 
cultivating; but with guano will pay all expenses of that and the culti- 
vation and the cost of the land the first crop. 

Upon a portion of this land, a poor sandy loam, he applied 200 lbs. 
Peruvian guano and one bushel of wheat per acre, and made 12 bushels, 
while a strip through the field, purposely left without guano, did not pro- 
duce the seed, and remained as destitute of clover as though it never had 
been sown, forming a very striking contrast to the luxuriant growth up- 
on each side. In another trial he made 10 bushels from one sowed, with 
200 lbs. of Patagonian guano, of a very good quality. This is about in 
proportion to the current price of the two kinds, though the latter cannot 
be so certainly depended upon for good quality as the Peruvian. Another 
trial was made with 1,100 lbs. Peruvian and 1,100 lbs. Patagonian, and 11 
bushels of seed upon 11 acres which made 150 bushelsof wheat of very fine 
quality, and large growth of straw. Upon 36 acres, same kind of soil, 
well manured in the previous crop of corn, sowed 36 bushels and made 
162. The first had not been manured. The evidence in favor of guano 
in this case, needs no comment. By an outlay of $40, a much more va- 
luable crop was made from the 11 acres than from the 36; the perma- 
nent improvement to the land from guano was much greater than from 
the manure. In this case the guano was plowed in about four inches 
deep. 

Mr. Nelson thinks the yield of wheat will average in that neighbor- 
hood, an increase of 16 bushels for 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano. 



16 

H. Chandler, Westmoreland Court House, bought a farm at a price for 
ihe whole below the cost of the mansion house alone, because the land 
was so utterly and hopelessly worn out, as to be past the ability of sup- 
porting those engaged in its tillage. When we saw it, we should have 
been willing to insure the growing crop of wheat at 20 bushels, the result 
of 210 lbs. of Peruvian guano to the acre; while the clover upon the 
stubble of the previous year could not be excelled in point of luxurioua- 
ness upon the richest field in the State of New York, where the land was 
valued at $100 an acre. 

Mr. Chandler first commenced with 260 lbs. African guano, measuring 3 J- 
bushels, to the acre, upon which he sowed one bushel of wheat. The re- 
sult 17 bushels to the acre upon land which only gave 5i bushels in 
any previous crop. Cost of guano $5; profit, $6 50. The next year he 
gained an increase of 12 bushels to the acre over previous years, by the 
use of 250 lbs of Patagonian guano; while the clover, Mr. Chandler 
thinks, worth more than the whole cost of the application. A still better 
result was produced last year from 210 lbs. of Peruvian. The soil is a 
yellow clayey loam, which in its unimproved condition looks about as 
unpromising for a crop, as the middle of a hard beaten road. 

Mr. C. tried guano upon river bottom land, but the improvement was 
not so remarkable. 

We were assured by Mr. C, that many persons who had long been 
accustomed to look upon the hopeless barreness of this land, were wont 
to stop as they rode past this field of clover, and look at it with utter as- 
tonishment. Some could not be satisfied with looking, but would drive 
to the house to inquire what magical power had been used to produce 
such a strange metamorphosis in the appearance of the place. When as- 
sured it was all effected by guano, they went away — not satisfied — but 
unbelieving. 

What tends much to mcrease the effect of this improvement, is the 
fact, that directly opposite lies another tract, still in its barren condition, 
lately purchased by Dr. Spence, a very enterprising gentleman, imbued 
with the spirit of improvement, which will soon be broughtinto the same 
condition, notwithstanding its unforbidding appearance. 

Mr. S. B. Atwell who owns an adjoining farm, has been equally success- 
ful in the use of guano. Before using it, his wheat upon 20 acres was 
hardly sufficient to pay for harvesting. The first crop after using it, 400 
bushels. He has also increased the crop of corn from 20 to 250 barrels 
by lime, guano and clover. In the meantime, the land has increased in 
value in about the same ratio. 

In Lancaster County, we saw a field of wheat on the farm of Dr. Le- 
land, sown upon corn ground, one part with 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano 



16 

to the acre, the other with a full dressing of hog-pen manure, by the side 
of which the ground was seen in its natural barrenness, scarcely making 
a show of greenness ; while the rank growth of the guanoed portion made 
as great a contrast with that manured upon the opposite side. 

Guanoed wheat upon the farm of Col. Downing in the same county 
showed as great a contrast with land both limed and manured ; while 
directly alongside of this luxuriant growth, the land was as destitute of 
vegetation as a brick pavement. 

The effect of guano upon strawberries. Col. D. found to excel anything 
else ever tried. 

A neighbor of Col. Downing had a fine show for a wheat crop on ex- 
ceedingly poor land from the application of only 90 lbs. Peruvian Guano 
to the acre. 

Capt. Wm. Harding, Northumberland, C. H., assured us he made 2" 
bushels per acre upon only tolerably fair land, by the use of 200 lbs. 
Peruvian guano, plowed in and followed bv clover, worth more than the 
guano cost. 

Col. Richard A. Claybrook, in the same neighborhood, made 15 bushels 
— the land along side almost as bare as the surface of the guano islands- 

We might mention a dozen others in the same place, in fact in most 
of the places mentioned, whose testimony would be as strong as those 
we have named. 

Col. Edward Tayloe of King George Co., having been very successful 
in the use of guano, induced his neighbor, Wm. Roy Mason, Esq. to test 
its powers by the most severe experiment we have ever known it sub. 
jected to. He selected a point of a hill, from which every particle of 
soil had been washed away, until nothing in the world would grow there. 
It would not produce, said he, a peck of wheat to the acre, but with a 
dressing of 300 lbs. African guano, it gave me thirteen bushels, and now 
while that is covered with clover, other, so called, rich parts of the field 
are almost bare. A field which had never produced for years, over four 
bushels of wheat to the acre, was dressed with 250 lbs. of guano and one 
bushel of plaster at a cost of $7 to the acre, which gave thirteen bushels 
of a quality greatly improved, and a very large growth of straw, which 
he esteems highly as a top dressing for the clover, which far exceeded 
upon the guanoed land that which was highly manured. The success of 
Mr. Mason was so flattering, he immediately purchased six tons for the 
next experiment. 

If all the faithless would pursue the course indicated in the following 
experiment with guano, by Mr. Richard Rouzee of Essex Co. Va., they 
would probably be as well convinced as he, that the greatest " humbug- 
ging" al)out guano, is in neglecting to profit by its use. He says:— "I 



n 

must confess that I have been skeptical in relation to tho various ac- 
counts of the fertilizing properties of guano, especially in these times of 
humbuggery, and therefore determined to subject it to the most rigid test. 
In view of this, on the 3d of October last, I selected two acres of land by 
actual measurement, proverbially poor, never iiaving yielded in a course 
often years cultivation more than three bushels per acre, and in conse- 
quence, was called by way of derision, " Old Kentuck." To the two acres 
560 lbs. of guano were applied in the most injudicious manner by strew- 
ing it on the top of the corn bed — the consequence was, when the wheat 
was ploughed in, and came up, a small girth was only seen on the top 
and a space between each row at least one third of its width ; in this 
condition it remained until about the middle of November, when it had 
so sensibly disappeared, that it attracted the attention of one of my 
neighbors, who remarked to me, that at least one half of it had been de- 
stroyed, in which opinion I concurred; in examining that which re- 
mained, we were of opinion that three-fourths of it had from three to ten 
flies in the maggot state on each stalk; in this state of things 1 surren- 
dered all hope of any tolerable return, more especially as the rust made 
its appearance in it a short time before it ripened. — Now for the result— 
The 2 acres of land yielded me 32i bushels of ^vheat at $1 per 

bushel, - - - , ^32 23 

Deduct for average yield of the above, 2 acres, 6 bushels 

at $1 per bushel, - - - ,i^ 6 00 

Deduct for Co-a of 560 lbs. Guano, - 12 70 

813 70 

$13 55 
Add for additional straw, 60 



Clear profit, - !$14 05" 

Here is a clear profit of $14 upon $12.70 invested, andiiciinowledged 
to be applied in the most injudicious manner. It is easy to judge what 
would have been the profit under different circumstances. In the vi- 
cinity of this city where straw sells for $5 per hundred little bundles, 
instead of a credit of 50 cent.s it would have been at least h.ilf ihe cost 
of the guano. 

GtTANO m NORTH CAROLOrA. 

Henry K. BurgwyrC s first trial with guano. Its effect on grass sown with 
wheat. — The name and farm of this gentleman is so widely known as a 
successful renovator of miserably poor worn out fields, that we are de- 
lighted to have it in our power to have his testimony to our impregnable 



18 

array of witnesses in favor of the most valuable substance for the im- 
provement of such land, ever given by an overruling power for the bene- 
fit of those who ought to be exceedingly thankful for so good a gift. But 
hear what this writer has to say upon this interesting subject. 

"Having about 150 acres of my wheat, this year sown upon last year's 
corn ground, and the land being rather light and not too rich, I feared 
lest I should fail with my grass sown on this wheat, because of the two 
successive cereal evops; I therefore bought guano, mixed it with its bulk 
of plaster, then siddedfine charcoal, the same, and to this mixture double 
the whole bulk of deposite of the Roanoke river, a rich alluvial earth, 
and sowed the whole broadcast in February and Blarch, and harrowed 
it in, on the top of the wheat. I. sowed at the rate of 200 lbs. of guano to 
the acre ; the value of which, no doubt, was doubled by the mi.xture with 
the absorbents of the ammonia, which is so exceedingly volatile even 
when left for a few hour.-;, is easily dissipated by the March v/inds. On 
this land, I had sown in October previous, clover, timothy, Kentucky 
blue grass, and Italian ray grass. My harvest has now been over, three 
weeks, and I have never liad.a finer stand of all these, even on our rich 
bottoms. The ray grass matured its seed, rather sooner than the wheat 
was two-third:; as tall, and where eery thickly soioi^ materially injured the 
product of tlif whoat. / have reaped an increased product from wy wheat, 
amply sufficient to repay my outlay lor the gitayio, platter, <^c., and have my 
grass as m;; profit on the investment ; this in turn, will shade and improve 
my land, fatten my stock, increase my crops, and cheer my eye with 
'grassy slopes,' in place of ' galled hill sides;' this is profit sufficient for 
the most greedy if turned to a proper accov;nt ; — be it remembered, too, 
this was a light and rather poor soil, but based on a good clay subsoil." 

To this we beg leave to add from our own knowledge «^f this land, 
which is situated on the Roanoke river 6 or 7 miles below Halifax, that 
it was before being improved by Mr. Burgwyn, about as unpromising a 
tract as can be found upon all the "cottoned to death," poor old fields of 
that sadly abused State. In the condition it was when we first saw it, 
while undergoing the operation of putting a four horse plow through the 
broom straw and old field pines, notwithstanding our strong faith in the 
ability of such men as the Messrs. Burgwyns to redeem such land from 
its condition of utter and apparently hopeless barrenness, we must own. 
that if Mr. B. had made the assertion while we were riding over this very 
tract, that within two years he would reap a remunerating crop of wheat 
from the barren waste, and coat the ground with a carpet of luxuriant 
grass, we should have told him the day of miracles had passed away. 
But we had not then seen as much as we have since of the miraculou.-! 
power of Peruvian guano. 



19 

We might c ntinue to cite hundreds of similar cases, but propose to 
pass over into Maryland, and after showing its application there has pro- 
duced equally beneficial results, travel northward, calling here and there 
a witness as w:-^ proceed. Among others, we may call lo tiie stand in Mary- 
land, will be the editor of the American Farmer, wlioso testimony we 
consider almost invaluable, having devoted much attention to the sub- 
ject, and to whom, and his able correspondents, we desire to award full 
credit, in this general manner, to save repetition, for much of the infor- 
mation we shall give the readers of several of the succeeding pages. 
The testimony of witnesses of such high standing, cannot be too highly 
estimated by those who are anxious to learn how to renovate their worn 
out far0¥, or make the rich ones richer 

EXPERIMENTS IN IVIARYLAND. 

Effects of guano upon the crop to tohich it is applied. — Edward Stabler, in 
the American Farmer, thus speaks of an experiment he made in 1845, soon 
after the introduction of guano to any extent Into this country. 

'•In a field of some 10 acres, one acre was selected near the middle, 
and extending through the field, so as to embrace any difference of soil, 
should there be any. On this acre 200 lbs. of Peruvian guano, at a cost 
of about $5 was sown with the wheat. Adjoining the guano on one 
side, was manure from the barn yard, at the rate of 23 cart loads lo the 
acre; and on the opposite side (separated by an open drain the whole 
distance;) ground bones were applied on the balance of the field, at a 
cost of .$6 to the acre; tire field equally limed two years preceding. 
There was no material dift'erence in the time or manner of seeding; ex- 
cept that the manure was lightly cross-ploughed in, and the guano and 
bones harrowed in with the wheat. 

The yield on the guanoed acre was 35 bushels ; the adjoining acre 
with bone, as near as could be estimated by dozens, and compared with 
the guano, was about 27 bushels; and the manured, about 24 bushels. 
The seasoa was unusually dry; and the manured portion suffered more 
from this cause than either of the others; the land being considerably 
more elevated, and a south exposure." 

In our opinion Mr. S. is in error in regard to the manured land suffer- 
ing most from drouth. In our experience we have always found the best 
effects from Guano, in wet seasons, or upon irrigated land. He says 
also, "This is one of the most active of all manures; and although he 
thinks the effect evanescent, it might aid materially in renovating worn 
out lands." Since that time a great many other Maryland farmers have, 
undoubtedly come to the same conclusion, for notwithstanding the price, 
which he thinks too high to justify its extensive use, has not been ma- 



20 

terially reduced, there is more guano sold in Baltimore than any, or per- 
haps all the ports in the United States ; and the benefits derived from its 
use upon the worn out lands of Maryland, have been of the most satis- 
factory character. 

In speaking of the after crop of grass upon the land above mentioned, 
he says : 

'The field has since been mowed three fimes; the first crop of grass 
was evidently in favor of the boned part ; the second, and third, were 
fully two to one over the guano, and also yelding much heavier crops of 
clover seed. On a part of one land, 18 bushels to tlie acre of the finest 
of the bone were used; on this, the wheat was as heavy as on the gua- 
noed, and the grass generally lodges before harvest, as it also does on 
much of the adjoining land with 12 bushels of bone." 

This is all right ; it should never be mixed with lime, and it should be 
plowed in. In his experiments, the lime in the soil had the effect to 
disengage the ammonia, and not being sufficienth'^ -buried or mixed up 
with the earth to prevent its escape during a very dry season, much of 
its value went afloat in the atmosphere. If he had given a bushel of 
plaster as a top dressing, there is no doubt the effect upon the grass 
crop would have been entirely different. The action of guano is very 
variable upon different soils, as well as upon the same kinds of soil in 
different seasons, or from the different manner of applj'ing it ; but there 
is one thing in its favor, it seldom fails to pay for itself, as Mr. Newton 
remarks, in the first crop ; and if properly applied, that is, plowed in 
with wheat, upon poor, sandy, " worn out land," and followed by clover, 
and that dressed with plaster, it will pay far better in the succeeding 
years than the first. This has been fully proved in a hundred cases, 
since Mr. Stabler tried his experiments ; for two years after, in writing 
upon the same subject, he says " Harrowing in the guano with the wheat 
will generally produce a better crop ; but its fertilizing properties are 
more evanescent. I prefer plowing it in for all field crops ; and when 
.attainable, would always u.se it in conjunction with ground bones, for 
:the benefit of succeeding grass crops. This is pre-supposing that you 
determine to improve more land than the resources of the farm will ac- 
eoraplish, and are willing to do it by the aid of foreign manures ; and 
being ' far removed from lime.' If the object is to realize the most in a 
single crop, and to obtain the quickest return for the outlay, use the gi^ 
ano alone, and harrow it in with the wheat ; but the land, according to 
my experience, will derive but little benefit from the application, unless 
the amount is large. By plowing it in, particularly if mixed with one 
third its bulk of plaster, the effect is decidedly more durable ; nor is it 
then necessary that the seeding should so immediately follow its appli- 
cation. If. however, the object is to imjjrove the land at the same time; 



21 

and surely it should be a primary object with every tiller of the soil— 
and lime, from your location, or the price, is unattainable, I would ad- 
vise about half the amount determined on, to be expended for ground 
bones. This may be harrowed in with the wheat. 

It is surprising what an effect a few bushels of ground bones to the 
acre will produce; reference is made to a single experiment, .nnd not an 
isolated one either. Some six years since, we applied ten to twelve 
bushels of coarsely ground bones to the acre, on about half of a twelve 
acre field ; on two lands adjoining, was guano, at the rate of 200 pounds 
to the acre, (the cost of each about the same,) and extending nearly 
through the field ; both were applied in the spring, on the oat crop — 
and which was decidedly better, by the eye, on the two lands with gu- 
ano. In the fall, the field was sown with wheat, manuring heavily from 
the barn yard, adjoining the guano, but not spread on the two lands, or 
on the boned portion of the field. 

There was but little difference perceived in the wheat, except from 
the manure, which was the best — the field having been limed for the 
preceding corn crop, 80 bushels to the acre. The experiment was made 
to test the comparative durability of the three kinds of manure ; the 
guano, ground bones, and manure from the barn yard ; and the ultimate 
profit to be derived from each, in a full rotation. After the first crop of 
grass, and perhaps the second, which was in favor of the manured por- 
tion, the succeeding crops of hay and clover seed, have been decidedly 
better on the boned part of the field. At the present time, and also the 
past season, this being the fourth year in grass, the guanoed lands pre- 
sent about the same appearance, that does a small adjoining space, pur- 
posely left, without manure of any kind, lime excepted. The manured 
part affords good pasture, but is quite inferior to the boned, which would 
give a fair crop of hay, and probably three times as much grass as the two 
lands with guano. It is believed that the increased crop of clover seed 
on the boned, over the guanoed portion, paid for the former; and that 
the two crops of clover since taken from the field, have paid, or nearly 
so, for the lime or other manures applied. 

This evidence corresponds with the opinion of Professor Mapes; that 
is, that the value of an application of guano is greatly enhanced bv the 
addition of phosphate of lime, in some shape; the guano acting imme- 
diately and producing a direct profit, while the slow action, for which 
some farmers cannot wait, keeps up the fertility for years, or until the 
owner may find time to profit by another application of guano. 

We quote again a few more of the very sensible remarks of friend 
Stabler. " I am an advocate for the liberal use of all kinds of manure, 
guano included, if the price will justify it. A farmer iiad better buy 
manure thnn to bny grain, if compelled to do either: for we cannot ev- 



22 

pect much from nolhing, or reasonably calculate upon improving verj-- 
poor land without manure of some description, unless plaster will act 
with effect: nor is this generally the' case without the land possesses 
natiu'ally, some particular source of fertility, not wholly exhausted by 
bad or improvident tillage. 

It is probable those will be disappointed who expect to do everything 
with guano — make fine crops and improve the land, while they take 
everything otT, and dispense almost, if not entirely, with the more per- 
manent manures, all equally within their reach. True, we may exist 
for a time, only half fed and half clothed; but it is just as reasonable 
to expect to improve under such a regimen, as to calculate upon contin- 
ued, not to .^ay increased fertility of the soil, without an ample supply, 
of the right kind of manure. 

With all its acknowledged advantages, it may be questioned whether 
there is not one drawback to the introduction of guano. It is used with 
less profit in direct connexion with lime, than with most kinds of ma- 
nure ; and its facility of application, and quick return, has induced many 
to give up the lime entirely, if not also to some extent, to neglect the re- 
sources of the farm. Others again, in improving poor land, advise the 
guano first, and the lime afterwards. This may do very well ; but is 
often better in theory than in practice, for the lime is omitted altogether, 
and perhaps at some risk of loss, in both time and money, as regards 
permanent improvement. To use a figure of speech — the prudent arch- 
itect will first secure a solid foundation to build upon, and with materi- 
als of known durability ; this accomplished, he need have no fears of 
the stability of the structure, and may, at pleasure add thereto, either 
for ornament or utility." 

"That thin lands may be brought to a verj'^ productive state, by the 
liberal and repeated applications of guano, there is no doubt ; but at 
what cost and how durable the improvements might be, I am not pre- 
pared to say. In two instances, from 700 to 800 lbs. were applied at 
one time to an acre : but in neither did the results correspond with the 
expense, or induce a repetition of the experiment. My own experience 
so far, is in favor of more limited applications, say 100 to 200 lbs. to the 
acre, (taking in consideration the price of both grain and guano,) and 
also used in connection with other manures, which is found to be the 
most profitable, and probably more durable in its effect; in two ex- 
periments, with from 60 to 150 lbs. of guano to the acre applied three 
years since with barnyard manure, for wheat, the effect on the gras.s 
crop at this time, is quite marked ; applied in this way, it hastens ma- 
turity — thus, in a degree, guarding against rust — renders the grain more 
perfect, and is believed to be one of the most profitable modes of usin^' 
guano." 



23 

Nothing could be more sensible than the advice of this gentleman, not 
to rely upon guano alone. To waste or neglect stable and home made 
n-janures, or throw away bones or other valuable fertilizers, because we 
couid buy guano, would be as insensible as it would for a man to throw 
away a handful of bank bills, because he happened to have just then a 
pocket full of gold and silver coin. "^ 

We never have, nor shall we recommend guano to the exclusion of 
everything else ; but we do recommend every farmer in America, to 
whari} an additional quantity of manure would be an object, to bu/ gu- 
ano ; because he will be almost sure to derive a certain and immediate 
profit tVom the investment. It will make poor lands rich, and rich lands 
richer. 



EVIDBNOE OF THE DURABLE EFFECTS OF GUANO. 

Upoi. this point, we have the following testimony of Thomas P. Sta- 
bler, of Montgomery County, Md., a gentleman of the highest degree o^ 
intelligence and integrity ; one of the society of Friends, who are rather 
noted foi not being extravagant in their expressions or encomiums of an 
article, tfrithout good grounds therefor. We make these remarks, be- 
cause, as every good lawyer will tell you, the character and standing of 
your witnesses is of more importance than their language, to make a 
strong impression in your favor. 

In speaking of the means within reach of farmers, by which they can 
renovate their worn out lands, of which Maryland has an ample share, 
friend Stabler says, " In some districts the distance from lime is so 
great, that the man with small means can scarcely be expected to use 
it upon a large scale — but in regions of country where bone, guano an I 
poudrette act favorably, none need be without important aid from their 
use. Under a judicious system of cultivation and correct management, 
either of these will make bountiful returns the first year, and the strong- 
est and most conclusive evidence exists of their durability as manures. 
Proofs of this abound in my neighborhood. Reference to the ' facts' in 
a single case in point may suffice for an example. In the summer of 
1845, 1 prepared seventeen acres and a few perches of land for wheat. 
About five si.vths of this was extremely poor — upon a portion of the 
field, was put 112 ox-cart loads of manure from the barn yard and sta-- 
ble, on what I considered about an average quality of the land. On the 
12th of the 9th month, (September.) I sowed seven bushels of wheat on 
this part of the ground and plowed the manure and wheat in together 
with the double shovel plow — very soon after the balance was sowed 
with 270 pounds of good African guano per acre, for which I paid $40 
per ton, and plowed this in with the wheat, immediately after sowing, 



24 

in th« same manner as the other. During the succeeding winter .id 
spring, the appearance of my wheat field became the subject of r .ch 
notice and remark on the part of my neighbors, as well as others fi cm 
several adjoining counties who saw it, many of whom supposed that 
this application of guano could not possibly produce such a crop as its 
then present appearance indicated — in this, however, they were disap- 
pointed — there were two small pieces left without manure of any kind. 
One ofthe.se upon the best part of the field, and the other upon u part 
of medium quality. 

It may be recollected that the crop of wheat that season was gene- 
rally most inferior, both in quality and quantity. Upon the parts left 
without manure, it was scarcely worth cutting, and men of integrity 
and good judgment, were of the opinion that without the aid of the gu- 
ano, I could not have saved more than 60 or 70 bushels of wheat from 
the field. The product was 320 bushels, that weighed 64 lbs. to the 
bushel. The guanoed portion continued at harvest to be decidedly bet- 
ter than that manured from the barn }'ard and stable. This field was 
sown with clover in the spring of 1846, and to this time its appearance 
affords as strong evidence of great improvement in the land, as it did 
during the growth of wheal. It has now been pastured freely during 
two summers, and been exposed to the action of the frosts of two win- 
ters, and upon the guanoed portion I have not yet seen a i;ingle clover 
root thrown out of the ground, while from the part manured from the 
barn yard, it has almost entirely disappeared. Good farmers have fre- 
quently remarked during the present summer that the appearance oi 
this field warrants the conclusion that it is now capable of producing 
largely of any crop common to our country. 

Thus ' worn out land' is renovated, and amplo means produced for in- 
creasing its fertility. Similar instances of improvement exist in very 
many examples that can be seen in this portion of our country, result- 
ing from the application of lime, bene and poudrette, as well as from 
guano." 

Guano precenis clover from being llwown out by frost. — We wish to call 
back the attention of the reader to this reliable statement of Mr. Stabler, 
not only for its importance to farmers, but because the same thing has 
been remarked by other gentlemen who have used guano. It can only 
be accounted for from the fact, that guano seems to be peculiarly adapt- 
ed, more than any other manure, to give the young clover a vigorous 
start, so that in its early stages it acquires a growth too strong to be af- 
fected by the usual course of freezing and thawing, by which less vig- 
orous plants are thrown out. For this reason alone, if guano had no 
other value, farmers in some sections of the country where the .soil iii 



26 

peculiarly affected by this difficulty, would find their account in the 
LMse of an article which would enable them to grow clover, for clover is 
manure, and it should be a sine qua non with every farmer to avail him- 
self of all the means within his reach to increase the supply of manure 
froin the products of his farm. Let him not depend alone upon the pur- 
chase of guano, but rather upon the means which that brings within his 
reach of increasing his home supply by the growth of clover, and large- 
ly increased production of straw. Those who are interested pecuniarily, 
which the writer is not, in the increased sale of guano in the United 
States, have no fears that our recommendations to make manure at 
home — to use lime, plaster, bones, clover, and every other source of fev- 
tility within their reach, will decrea.se the sale of guano. On the con- 
trary, those who are most disposed to use all these sources of fertility, 
are the very men most disposed to use a substance which all experience 
has proved superior to all others. Besides, there is, and probably al- 
ways will be, enough " worn out lands" which can be profitably reno- 
vated, to use up all the guano which will ever find its way into tills 
country. So our earnest recommendation is, where lime is available, 
vet no man claiming the honorable title of farmer, fail to make the ap- 
Vlication. Let him also gather up all the fragments — let nothing be lost 
—make all the manure at home he possibly can, and then he will not 
jnly have the means, but a disposition also to buy that which a benefi- 
sent Providence sends him from the coast of Peru ; of the good effect of 
which we will prove by further testimony — that of the Hon. Jarnes A. 
Pearce, Senator from Maryland, and a farmer of no small note in that 
State. He says — "In April 1845, 1 applied 350 lbs., probably of African 
or Patagonian guano to an acre of growing wheat, the land being en- 
tirely unimproved and very poor, ft was applied as a top dressing, of 
course, but mixed with plaster." (In what proportion he does not say, 
but we will by and bye ; but he docs say) — " The wheal was doubled in 
quantity at least — fine^lover succeeded it — and in two crops, one of corn 
and one of small grain, three and four years afterwards, the effects are 
still apparent." Now this effect was produced by the use of the guano 
as a top dressing ; a method universally acknowledged to be the most 
unfavorable to the development of the full value of the application. 

The editor of the Farmer in answer to an inquiry whether a combina- 
tion of charcoal, plaster, and guano would make a profitable top dressing 
in spring for wheat, says, " yes" — but thinks if it had been plowed in 
with the seed in the fall, the result would have beei) much better. How- 
ever, says he, " we entertain not the slightest doul-t, that, if his wheat 
field be top dressed with the mixture next spring, ii will greatly increase 
the yield of his wheat crop, unless the season should prove a very dry 
one, as the charcoal, and plaster, will each tend to prevent the esrape 



26 

of the ainmonuical gases of ihe !?uano. and as it wore, offer them up us 
food to the wheat plants. 

" In Aprii 1845, 1 applied 350 lbs. of guano to an acre of growing wheat, 
the land being entirely unimproved and vcr}' poor. Of course it was 
applied as n top-dressing, muved, hoioeier. with flasler. The wheat was 
doubled in quantity at least; fine clover succeeded it: and in two cropa, 
one of corn, and the other of small grain, last year and the present, the 
effects are still apparent." 

If our correspondent would mix, in the proportion of 200 lbs. of guano, 
one bushel of c/iarcoa/, and half a bushel of plaster per acre, and sow 
the mixture on his wheat field ne.xt spring, after the frost is entirely out 
of the ground, then seed each acre with clover .seed, and roll his land, 
we have no doubt that his wheat crop would be increased five or six 
bushels to the acre, perhaps more, and that he would have a good stand 
of clover plants, and a luxuriant crop of the latter next year. 

Our opinion is, that ^uajioed land should always be sowed to clover, 
or clover and orchard grass." 

In thi.s. particularly the opinion of the last paragraph, we fully 
concur — to obtain the full value of guano it must either be mixed with 
plaster or charcoal, or what is better, plowed in and thoroughly incor- 
porated with the soil, and the land always sown with clover, peas or 
some other plant of equal value for green manure. It is true Col. Car- 
ter has been successful with wheat after wheat ; while many continue 
successful, by carefully retaining all the straw ; the guano being suffi- 
cient to keep up the everlasting ability of the soil to produce an annual 
crop of grain. 

THE FIVE FIELD SYSTEM AND GUANO. 

We look upon this as the most preferable of all other systems of farm- 
ing ever adopted in the South — it is the system gf Edmund Ruffin, to 
whom Virginia owes a debt of gratitude beyond her power to pay. It 
will be seen from the following extract from a letter of Mr. Newton that 
that eminent agriculturist is of opinion that improvement of poor land is 
unlimited, if guano in connection with this system is perseveringly ap- 
lied. He says — " The five field System" which is now rapidly extend- 
ing over all the poor and worn lands that are now under improvement 
by marl, lime, or guano, originated, or at least was first extensively in- 
troduced in lower Virginia, on the Pamunkey, and has there wrought 
wonders, aided by marl and judicious farming. The rotation is corn, — 
wheat, — clover — wheat, or clover fallow, — and pasture, and after pasture 
one year, commencing the round again with corn. This system, if gua- 
no be applied to both crops of wheat, on corn Und and fallow, or alter 



27 

natcly with lime or marl, when calcareous manures arc required, will 
readily increase the crops and permanent improvement of the land- 
In the commencement of the rotation, lime had better be applied with 
the putrescent manures to the corn crop, to be followed by guano on 
wheat. If this system be perseveringly, pursued, I can scarcely see 
any reasonable limits to the improvement of poor lands and the increase 
of the profits of agriculture." 

Disappointment will i-esuU from the application of lime, marl, salt 
potash, guano, or any special and highly concentrated substance as a 
fertilizer, to the neglect of organic manures. We lay down this fact as 
incontrovertible, that no soil, however fertile it may be made for the 
time being by any of these special manures, can remain permanently 
60, unless care is u.sed to maintain a healthful supply of organic matter, 
—rich mould^ — good soil upon the land cultivated. If this is done, we 
never shall hear of guano failing to bring increased crops or of the " land 
running out," where it has been applied. Special manures of any kind 
may fail to produce crops, where this essential requisite to good farming 
is neglected. Guano, in our opinion, should always be followed by 
crops of clover, gra.ss, peas, or some crop that will shade the earth, and 
can be turned under with the plow, to keep up the necessary supply of 
nitrogenous food for cereal crops. , 

The effect of Lime and Salt upon land is to dissolve the inert portions of 
organic matters in the soil, so that plants can suck up their substance 
into their own composition. Both are highly beneficial, but insufficient 
to add permanent fertility. 

The effect of guano, is greater than any other highly concentrated ma- 
nure ever discovered and applied to any soil. Its benefits are immediate 
continuous, and unlike lime, without exhausting the soil of its organic 
matter. Yet its benefits will be increased by the addition of organic 
manures derived from green crops, straw, or the stable, and the value 
of these will be greatly increased by the addition of lime, salt and plas- 
ter, while any deficiency of phosphates must be supplied by powdered 
bones or another application of guano. 

The effect of plaster with guano is to arrest the excursive disposition of 
the volatile parts of the guano, and imprison them in the earth until 
called forth by the growing plants to do the State some service. The 
following question to the Editor of the American Farmer, and his reply, 
are to the point in this matter: — 

A correspondent says — " As to the question of mixing plaster with 
guano, there is one question I should like to propose to the editor, viz. — 
'what will be the effect of sowing guano upon land by itself, and then, 
the seed being in the ground, giving it a heavy top-dressing of plaster, 
so as to arrest the 'excursion,' of which so much is said '" 



2S 

Reply by the editor. — Tho effect of such application of guano and plas- 
ter would be, to prevent the waste of the ammonia of the former, as 
every rain would decompose more or less of the plaster, separate the 
sulphuric acid from the lime, and the sulphuric acid when liberated, would 
unite with the ammonia, form a sulphate of ammonia, and hold the latter 
in reserve to be taken up by the roots of the plants. The presence 
of plaster with all organic manures, either directly mixed with them, 
or broadcasted after they may be applied, tends to prevent the escape 
of their volatile parts. We prefer them together for two vedisons,— first, 
because, by bringing the two into immediate contact, the action of the 
plaster is more direct ; and secondly, because the time and expense of 
one sowing is thereby saved. We go for saving every way, as time and 
labor costs money, and we look upon economy as a virtue, which should 
be practised by all, and especially by husbandmen." 

If the plaster and guano is mixed together, 25 lbs. of the former to 100 
lbs. of the latter, will be found a proper proportion, and sufficient to 
prevent the ammonia from making an '-excursion." Unless ihe soil be 
very poor, 200 lbs. of good Peruvian guano is as much as we should re- 
commend for wheat. In this we have the concurrence of the editor of 
the Farmer, and perhaps a hundred gentlemen whom we have con- 
versed with upon this subject. All agree in the opinion, whether 
mi.xed with plaster or not, that a judicious application of guano will 
more certainly restore productiveness to worn out land, or add fertility 
to that already productive, than any other substance ever applied. 

Want of Faith in the efficacy of guano. — Whatever doubts may have 
existed in the minus of careful men, there is no room for doubts now, 
that Peruvian guano possesses regenerating properties beyond belief, 
without evidence, and capacity to increase the productiveness of lands 
in sound condition, in such an eminent degree, that any farmer who has 
the power to obtain it, evinces great folly and perverse obstinacy, if he 
continue to cultivate his land without applying it; either for want of 
faithjor pretended disbelief in its efficacy ; or because bethinks the price 
fixed upon it by the Peruvian Government, '• unjustifiably high;" or be- 
cause although he has no doubt it will answer in the moist climate of 
England, is sure it will never answer in this dry climate ; or because he 
is afraid the luxuriant crops produced by the application of guano will 
exhaust his land ; or because his neighbor Jones killed all his seed corn 
by putting only a handful in the hill ; while Mrs. Jones killed all her 
flowers and fifty kinds of roses with the " pisen stuff;" and therefore he 
don't want any more to do with it ; or because it has failed to give re- 
muneration under the most injudicious application, made contrary to aU 
instructions or experience of those who have used it; or for any and 
all the other thousand and one objections raised by those who have ne- 



29 

vet used it, and seem determined they never will ; probably because 
when the almost miraculous accounts of its operations were first pub- 
lished, they had cried out "humbug" so loudly they are determined no 
after evidence shall convince them the only humbug in the case was in 
their own disbelief. It is for the benefit of these unbelievers we arc now 
writing. Our object is to present such an array of facts guaranteed by 
such respectable names, they shall have no hook to hang a doubt upon 
— no reason — no justifiable excuse for any sane man longer to neglect 
to apply an article of suth positive, certain benefit to his hungry soil. 

ED. REYNOLDS ESQ., OF BALTIMORE, ON THE VALUE OF GUANO. 

Writing on the subject of" bought manures," as everything is termed 
not produced upon the farm, and how dubiously they are looked upon 
by some persons calling themselves good farmers, for fear of being 
humbugged, Mr. Reynolds says, in a letter dated July, 1850, "Since 
1843, 1 have been trying to find out which is the best of all these 'new 
things,' and have now, after having been very considerably humbugged, 
.settled down upon bones and guano — although, even the last named in 
a very dry year, has also 'cheated me'; but this is by no means it.s 
character, as I am constrained to admit, that after having tried it on all 
sorts of soil, and perhaps as long if not longer than any other person in 
the State, it is my opinion that when properly applied, ^vith an average 
fair season, it is a very powerful fertilizer. My mode of using it is, 
when applied to tobacco, to mix one and a half bushels of the Peruvian, 
(which is ordinaril)* 100 lbs.) with one bushel rich earth, and one bush- 
el of plaster, which admits about the fifth part of a gill of the mixture 
to each hill for every 5,000 hills — and putting it in the center of the 
check before being scraped— so that when the hill is made, it lies be- 
neath the plant. On wheat, I apply three bushels of Peruvian guano 
equal to 200 lbs. mixed with one bushel of plaster,one bushel rich earth 
to the acre, sowing on the surface and plowing it in as soon and as deep 
ns possible, after it is sowed. The past spring I have put 300 lbs. to the 
acre, on 30 acres of corn, being half of a field, on a farm in Calvert^ 
mixing with it the same quantity of rich earth and plaster, and sowing 
on the surface, plowing in at once very deep, using the cultivator only 
in working it afterwards. I do not intend to use it at all with corn, here- 
after, but not because I do not think it also a good fertilizer with this 
crop, (as my corn on my Calvert farm, upon which it has been used, 
now shows very fair,) but only because it has never failed to pay me 
three fold better on wheat, than on anything else. In order to test its 
virtue, it is essentially necessary to plow it in deeply, and stir it as little 
as possible afterwards. 



30 

Bmies. — Of these I havo used both ground and crushed, .'irid ifhvuy.s to 
advantage at ten to twelve bushels per acre ; bought tVoui manufactur- 
ers here, and agents of houses in New York ; but I am using the crushed 
dissolved by oil of vitriol, as prepanvl by m3'seiron my farm in Calvert 
in the following way: The bones, (which we buy in the neighborhood, 
at 60 cents per 112 lbs.) after breaking them with a small sledge ham- 
mer on an old anvil, we put at the rate of three bushels in half a hogs- 
head, and apply to that quantity 76 lbs. oil of vitriol, filling up the half 
hogshead to within eight inches of the toi) with water, letting them re- 
main, (but -Stir the contents occasionally with a stick.) say two to five 
weeks, according to the quality and strength of the vitriol ; then start 
the contents of the half hogshead into a large iron kettle, apply a slight 
fire and the whole contents will in less than an hour be reduced to a 
perfect jelly. We use two half hogsheads at once, to prepare it expe- 
ditioiislj'. We then mix the contents of each kettle, with a horse cart 
load of rich earth, or ashes, throwing in a half barrel of plaster, mi.x: or 
compost it handsomely, and use at pleasure, on an acre of land with any 
crop you choose, and you will have permanently improved two acres at 
the following cost, viz : .Bones, #1.50, vitriol, $3.75, plaster, $1.12, mak* 
ing $6.37, or .$3.18 per acre, and this may be repeated so as with prop- 
er attention, as much lasting improvement may be mado each year as 
many farmers derive from their barn j'ards. Bones in any form never 
fails to show theft- striking effects on clover and other grasses — but 
either bones or guano will scarcely ever fail to produce a better crop of 
clover, which, with the ihcrea.sed quantity of straw, (particularly when 
guano is used.) will enable and encourage the saving of larger quanti- 
ties of barn yard manure, and which mu.st inevitably cause a lasting 
improvement. 

This coincides with our views exactly, as wo have in all tbe.sc page."? 
endeavored to impress upon our readers, that the increased growth of 
straw from the use of guano, will increase the manure pile, and ■■ i.-r^vi- 
tably cause a lasting improvement." 

Poudrette. — I have used also, to good advantage, particularly on clay- 
ey lands, at the rate of six to eight barrels per acre. It is a first rate 
top dressing on young clover in spring, at two ;:o three barrels per 
acre; this article has been prepared so badlj'^ heretofore, that a great 
quantity of it was really worthless." 

We also concede to poudrette as much credit a^ Mr. Reynolds but a.'* 
will be seen, it will cost more to improve land with it than with guano 

"Prepared Guano^- Agricultural Sails — Generators and Regenerators.—' 
Of these, the testimony of Mr. Reynolds is exactly to the point, concise 
and strong, and exactly in accordance with all the facts we have been 
able to collect upon the same subject. He says, "I have tried them on 
corn, wheat, oats, clover and tobacco ; but have yet tod'ncover that th-y 



31 

ever generated anything for me, thoui,'h ) have heard ihcm sometimes 
well spoken of." 

Want of room in this pamphlet alone provents'us from inserting the 
names and operations of many other gentlemen in this rapidly improv- 
ing State — a State no.w undergoing the process of renovation by the 
use of guano, to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other in the Union. 

aaANO IN DELAWARE. 

Hon. John M. Claytons Farm. — No one who looks upon thi.s highly 
improved farm now, with its most luxuriant crops, can be made to be- 
lieve it was a barren waste seven years ago — hardly worth fencing or 
cultivating. This great change, so far beyond the power of human be- 
lief, has been effected by lime, pla.ster and guano. The railroad from 
Frenchtown to New Castle, passes through this farm, four miles from 
the latter place. It is well worthy a visit from any one anxious to make 
personal observations of the effects of " bought m:inures," upon a .-soil 
too poor to support a goose per acre. 

Effect of Guano on Oats. — During a visit to Mr. Clayiou, in 1861, we 
saw the most luxuriant growth of oats upon one of the fields of this farm, 
which we have ever witnessed, and it has been our fortune to see some 
tall specimens of thi.* crop on the bottom lands of Ohio, Indiana, and 
Illinois. The seed he had obtained from England, and the means of 
making it grow, from Peru.- The guano was plowed in with the oats, 
at the rate of 350 lbs. to the acre. The soil is a yellow clayey loam. 
The effect upon other crops had been equally beneficial. The grov h 
of clover was .so great he had purchased thirty bullocks to fatten, tor 
the purpose of trying to consume some of his surplus feed. The effect 
upon wheat, corn, potatoes, turnips, garden vegetables and fruit trees, 
was almost as astonishing as upon the oats and gras.s. 

C P. Holcomh, Esq., one of the most improving farmers of one of the 
most improving covmties in the U. S., has met with great success in the 
use of lime, pla.ster, and guano. His beautiful highly improved ham<^ 
farm is near Newcastle; but that upon which he has met with gre:it suc- 
cess m the use of guano, lies about four miles from Dover. Before he pur- 
chased it had become celebrated for its misex'able poverty. It is now 
equally celebrated for its productiveness. The use of guano in that 
part of the State has now reached a point far beyond what the most 
sanguine would have dared to predict four years ago; and the benefits 
are of the most flattering kind. Lands have been increased in value to 
a far greater extent than all the money paid for guano : while the in- 
crea.sed profit from the annual crops, has produced corresponding im- 
provements in the condition and happiness of the people. 

No greater blessing, said an intelligent gentleman to me, ever was be. 
ttoMTd upon the people of Delaware. 



Extensive use of Guano by a Delaware fanner. M-d]. Jones, whose name 
is extensively known as a very enterprising farmer, purchased in the 
summer of 1861, oi Messrs. A. B. Allen & Co. New York, sixty tons of 
Peruvian guano, for his own use. With this he dressed 300 acres of 
wheat, upon the farm at his residence on the Bohemia manor ; plowing' 
in part of it and putting in part of it by a drilling machine at the rate of 
200 lbs. to the acre, sowing the Avheat all in drills. Part of the ground 
was clover, part corn, and perhaps one half wheat and oat stubble. The? 
earth at the time of sowing was so dry, doubts were entertained whether 
it would ever vegetate ; and that and other causes e.Ktended the work so 
late, upon a portion of the ground, there was scarcely any appearance of 
greenness when it froze up. With all these disadvantages, the crop was 
estimated at harvest at twenty bushels to the acre. Without guano no 
one acquainted with the farm would have estimated the crop at an ave- 
rage often bushels. This gives an undoubted increase of five bushels 
for each hundred weight of guano; and as the soil contains a good deal 
of clay with, which the guano was well mixed, it will retain much of 
the value of the application, for the ne.xt crop. Maj. Jones has hereto- 
fore derived very great benefits from the use of guano, as might safely 
be adjudged from the fact of his risking $3,000 in one purchase of the 
same article. 

Lasting effects of Guano. — Maj. Jones is well satisfied upon this point 
In 1847, he used 16 tons, half Peruvian and half Patagonian, sowed with 
a lime-spreading machine and plowed in deep, say eight inches on 
clayey loam — planted corn^nd made 60 bushels per acre on 100 acres; 
Avhich was an increase of 12 bushels per acre over any former year. 
Next spring the weeds grew as high as his head on horseback. Rolled, 
them down and plowed under and sowed wheat, five pecks to the acre, and 
made a heavier crop than ever before made on same land, which he at- 
tributes entirely to the guano. Thinks the third crop of wluiat is bene- 
fitted from guano plowed in three year.s previous. 

The extent to which guano is used in the State of Delaware may be 
inferred from the fact that it is not at all unusual for merchants in small 
country villfiges to purchase from 60 to 200 tons at a time for their retail 
trade. . . 

Among other .succes^sful users of guanu in that State, wc may mention 
Governor Ross, who, if as good a ruler as he is farmer, ought to be con- 
tinued in office to the end of life 

The soil to which guano has been mostly applied in this State is a 
sandy loam, suid the process of applying it, by sowing broadcast from 
200 to 350 lbs. per acre, and plowing in from four to six inches deep, 
previous to sowing wheat, which is always followed by clover, by every 
one who understands his own true interest ; for wherever that course has 



33 

been pursued, there has been a certain profit derived from the applica- 
tion, even when the wheat has failed. 

The irnprovemepts in farming in Delaware within the last ten years, will 
probably exceed in proportion to acres atid people, any other State 
in the Union. Nearly all the northern part of the State has been whiten- 
ed with lime, and the southern part is rapidly following the same path ; 
while the sale of guano in all parts will exceed any other section of the 
country, if not in quantity, certainly in numbers of persons making use 
of this sure means of restoring the lands of an almost ruined State, 
to their pristine fertility. 

GUANO IN PENSYLVANIA. 

There has probably been less guano used in this great State, than in 
her little sister, of which we have just been speaking. This may be 
owing to the fact that great improvements have been made by the use 
of lime, and that Pensylvania farmers generally are not much inclined 
to leave the path their fathers trod before them ; or that they are skep- 
tical as to what they hear of the miraculous powers of guano ; hence, 
its use has been in a great measure confined to market gardeners, 
or experiments in a small way ; the sales at Philadelphia, for home con- 
sumption, so far as we have noticed, are mostly in small lots of one to ten 
bags. Among all with whom we have conversed, however, who have 
used Peruvian guano in that State, we have never heard a doubt express- 
ed of its value, though the idea, strangely enough seems to prevail, that 
it will only be profitable for gardners and small farmers, and that it is 
of no benefit to succeeding crops. No doubt the progress of improve- 
ment by the use of guano in that vicinity has been greatly retarded, in 
consequence of the sale of considerable quantities of " cheap guano," 
which however low in the scale of prices, is still lower in the scale of 
values. In fact, there is but one thing connected with the spurious stuff, 
lower in any scale, and that is the honesty of those who manufacture or 
knowingly sell such a villainous compound to farmers, who are utterly 
ignorant upon the subject, under solemn assurances, that it " is equal to 
any guano in market, and only a little more than half price." 

Mr. Landreth, the celebrated seedsman of Philadelphia, applied $500 
worth of Peruvian guano last spring, principally on the bean crop — he 
thinks guano admirably adapted to all the Brassica tribe, including tur- 
nips, cabbages, rulubaga, radishes and all cruciform plants. Upon a 
lawn which appeared to be running out, he applied guano, and the grass 
is now green and vigorous. The character of his soil may be judged 
from its location ; it is on the Delaware river above Bristol, and had 



34 

been awfully skinned before he came in possession. Now, with a liber- 
al expenditure for manures, he gets two crops a year. 

Guano for grass lands. — The Germantown Telegraph says : " The appli- 
cation of guano broadcast to grass lands has been found to produce a 
decided difference in the crop. In several instances this season, where 
Peruvian guano has been applied at the rate of 200 lbs. per acre, about 
the middle of April, the yield of hay has been double in quantity, over 
the intermediate lands not so treated; and in every instance noticed, it 
is believed that the difference in quantity produced will amply repay 
the cost of the guano." 

GUANO IN NEW JERSEY. 

Guano has not been extensively used in New Jersey, owing to the 
abundance of green sand marl, which is a very valuable fertilizer, 
abounding in that part of the State most in need of artificial manures. 
Guano has, wherever used, produced the most astonishing results. One 
of these we witnessed upon the farm of Mr. Edward Harris, a gentleman 
well known for his enterprising spirit of improvement and intelligence 
in agriculture, who resides at Moorestown, which lies in the sandy re- 
gion east of Philadelphia. He sowed 400 lbs. to the acre, plowed in 
with double plow, sowed oats and seeded with timothy, which upon sim- 
ilar soil often " burns out" for want of shade, after the oats are harvest- 
ed. Not so in this case. The shattered oats from a remarkably line 
crop, vegetated and grew with such a dark green luxuriance, there was 
more danger of the young grass being smothered out : so he had to put 
the mowers at work, who cut heavy swaths of this second crop of oats, 
for hay. If it had been situated so it could have been fed off, the amount 
of pasture would have been almost incalculable. It is needless to say 
the effect of guano upon this land, was not evanescent. Other trials 
made by Mr. Harris, have convinced him of its value to Jersey farmers^ 
and that good as " Squankum marl " undoubtedly is, farmers would do 
better to expend part, at least, of their money in guano. 

The name of James Buckalew is known, perhaps, more extensively 
than any other in New Jersey, as one of her most enterprising, rapidly 
improving, money making farmers, whose testimony in favor of guano 
may be easily obtained by any one who will take the trouble to go and 
see what beautiful farms he has made out of the barren sands near the 
Jamestown station, on the Camden «fc Amboy railroad, by the use of 
lime, plaster, marl, manure and guano. It is a pity that every one who 
doubts the feasibility of profilably improving the worst land in that 
State, by the power of such an agent as Peruvian guano, could not see 
what has been done by Mr. Buckalew. Let them also look at what were 



35 

once bare sand hills around the residence of Commodore Stevens, at 
South Amboy, a gentleman who ought to be more renowned for his im- 
provements on land than water, notwithstanding his world wide reputa- 
tion, in connection with the yacht America. Go ask how it is that these 
drifted sand hills have been covered with rank grass, clover, corn, 
turnips and other luxuriant crops ; the very echo of the question will be, 
guano. 

Look at the astonishing crops of Professor Mapes, at Newark. Peru- 
vian guano, in combination with his improved superphosphate of lime, 
hath wrought the miracle, aided as it has been, by the deepest plowing 
ever done in that State. 

Mr. Samuel Allen, at Morristown, has now growing upon a poor bar- 
ren, gravelly knoll, a crop of corn which might put to blush the owner 
of a rich and well manured field, and which ought to put to blush some 
of the unbelievers in the power of guano to produce such a growth upon 
such a soil ; rather where there was no soil, hardly enough to grow a 
respectable crop of mullen stalks. Mr. Allen has tried guano for sev- 
eral years upon every kind of garden vegetable, with the most wonder- 
ful success. A crop of Lima beans now growing exhibit its wonderful 
power in the strongest manner. The application has been made by a 
small dose at planting and two sprinklings hoed in during their growth. 

A great many other persons in this State have produced most wonder- 
ful effects upon land almost utterly worthless, while in the immediate- 
benefits, those who have applied it to lands in good condition, have- 
profited more than with double the cost of manure. 

Guano for Peach Trees. — A New Jersey nurseryman assured us of his 
firm conviction in the power of guano to cure the yellows in peach 
trees — that no grub or worm can be found alive in the roots of a tree 
where guano is applied — that young trees can be brought into bearing 
by the use of guano, a year earlier than by any other forcing process 
with which he is acquainted. 

GUANO ON LONG ISLAND.* 

One gentleman assures us he tried an experiment very carefully, and 
found an application of guano at two and a half cents a pound, 300 lbs. 
to the acre, more economical than hauling his own manure one mile. 
The fair value of team work and cost of labor hired, was more to the 
acre than the guano, and the first crop quite inferior, the second no dif- 
ference, and the third slightly in favor of the manure. He thinks buy- 
ing city manure, particularly street sweepings, about the poorest use to 
which he could put his money, as he certainly could make 50 per ct. more 
upon the same amount expended in Peruvian guano. Professor Ma pes 

For interesting letters from fjong Island, see appendix. 



36 

entertains the same opinion, about hauling manure, where guano, or 
rather with him, guano improved by the addition of his " improved su- 
perphosphate of lime," can be procured. 

Dr. Peck, a gentleman well known for his philanthropic motives in 
settling and improving the " Long Island barrens," has proved that every 
acre of that long neglected, and until quite recently considered worth- 
less portion of the Island, can be rendered fertile, so as to be cultivated 
with great profit, either in farms or market gardens, by the aid of this 
greatest blessing ever bestowed by Providence upon an unfertile land. 

Several of the Messrs. Smith, of Smithtovvn, could show any Long Is- 
land farmer who still has doubts upon the subject, that guano is the 
greatest worker of miracles in this age — that it is just as capable of 
producing great crops on the barren sands of the Island, as it is on the 
tide water shores of Virginia, upon soil of the same character. 

A great deal has been said in deprecation of the waste of fertilizing 
matters in the city of New York, in which the writer of this pamphlet 
has conscientiously joined; because, he thought it wicked to commit 
such waste, while we were surrounded by lands lying idle, for the 
want of these very substances. Precious, however, as they would be 
to the farmer, he cannot afford to use them. That is, it would be poor 
economy for a Long Island farmer, no matter how near the city, to ex- 
pend money in the hire of men, vessels and teams, to save, carry, haul 
and apply to his farm, the immense amount of fertilizing substances now 
wasted ; because the same capital expended in purchasing and applying 
guano, will produce a much greater profit. The difference in cartage 
is enough to astonish one who has never thought upon the subject. One 
man with a pair of horses can easily carry guano enough in one day, 
thirty miles into the country, to manure ten acres of ground. To carry 
an equivalent of city manure, in the same time, would require 300 pair 
of horses and 350 men. Who can wonder that barren lands have re- 
mained barren ? Who will not wonder if they still continue so, with 
such fertilizers as their owners might possess to render them other- 
wise ? But few of the residents in the interior of Long Island, if tne ma- 
nure was given to them, can afford the time and team work to haul 300 
loads for ten acres, while all can afford the time for one load ; and they 
may be morally certain the capital invesfed in that load will be returned in 
the first crop. The great advantage of guano over all other manures is, 
the concentration of immense fertilizing power in such small bulk. 

Guano in New Yorli and Connecticut, generally, has been less used than 
any sound reason will justify. A comparatively small portion of the 
market gardeners — a few gentlemen in the improvement of rural homes, 
and here and there a nurseryman, have derived immense benefits ; but 
the bulk of the farmers are still either faithless, or ignorant ; in most 



37 

cases the latter, of the benefits they might derive from a liberal expen- 
diture in the means, and the only means within their reach, of rendering 
their lands productive. 

Effect of Guano on Garden Seeds. — From the society of Shakers, at 
Lebanon, so justly celebrated for growing garden seeds, we receive the 
most positive assurance that no manure ever applied by them, has had 
such an effect as guano. The production of seeds of all descriptions, is 
not only increased, but the quality is improved to an astonishing degree. 
The same effect has been noted upon wheat, particularly in our account 
of Mr. Newton's operations. So also has it in England. This view of 
the case should give an additional value to guano to the farmer, as not 
only an improver of the quantity of his products, but by the gradual 
improvement in the quality of the seed, calculated to be of vast benefit 
to him in that respect. Garden seeds raised by guano, as soon as their 
superiority becomes known, will be in such demand that no other can 
be sold. Another advantage will arise from the fact that such seeds 
will be found entirely free from weeds, as none grow after a few years 
upon land manured only with guano. 

The beautiful residence of Mr. Edwin Bartlett, near Tarrytown, ex- 
hibits strong evidence of the fertilizing power of guano upon the poor, 
unproductive hill sides of Westchester Co. That place, now so luxuri- 
ant, was noted a few years ago, as too poor to support grasshoppers. It 
was the poverty stricken joke of the neighborhood. 

GTTANO m MASSACHUSETTS. 

We have heard a good many assertions that guano, however valuable 
it might be upon the warm sandy soils of the south, would not answer 
in the cold land and climate of the New England States. To refute this 
fallacy, we have some strong testimony. Seven years ago, while the 
very name of guano, and much more its virtues were unknown to half 
the farmers of America, Mr. S. S. Teschemacher, of Boston, a gentleman 
of science and practical skill in gardening, became so fully convinced 
of its value to the cultivators of American soil, he published a pamphlet 
for the purpose of inducing others to profit by its use. From that pam- 
phlet we make a few extracts. He says — " One of the numerous objec- 
tions to this manure is, that, although it may answer well in the humid 
atmosphere of England, it cannot produce equal benefit in the hot, sandy 
soils of this country. In repl}' to this, it may be observed, that the sandy 
soils of South America are more hot than they are here ; and, on the 
coast of Peru, where it is most used, it scarcely ever rains at all. The 
truth is, that it certainly requires moisture to decompose it, and enable 
it to enter into the juices of the plant ; by no means, however, so much 



38 

as is usually supposed ; but, once absorbed by the roots and plants, it 
imparts that strength and solidity which enable them to resist both 
drought and cold. 

" It is beyond dispute that guano contains the chief ingredients re- 
quired for the growth of plants. The instances hereafter adduced will 
show that the combination and form of these ingredients are such as to 
promote not only its immediate action, but clearly to accelerate consid- 
erably the progress of vegetation. 
The chief ingredients^ then, of guano, are. 

Ammonia, in various forms and combinations ; 

Phosphate and oxalate of lime and magnesia ; 

Salts of potash and soda ; 

Animal organic matter : 

Sand and moisture. 
Besides the evidence we have given of the value of an application of 
such a compound, it contains evidence within itself to every mind em- 
bued with any knowledge of agricultural chemistry, that it will not only 
promote immediate growth of vegetation, but produce a lasting benefit 
to the soil. It contains all the materials necessary for the growth of 
cereal or esculent vegetation in the exact form required — that is an im- 
palpable powder — to promote rapid, certain, large growth, and abundant 
fruitfulness, and consequent profit. 

EXPERIMENTS BY MR. TESCHEMAOHER. 

To Indian corn, applied one teaspoonful to the hill, Avell mixed with 
earth, at time of planting. When twelve or fifteen inches high, hoed in 
three tea spoons full around the corn, and covered two inches deep and 
watered. Soil — a poor, sandy, sterile one. Product — one seed produced 
three main stalks with eight perfect ears and five suckers, weighing 8i 
lbs. The best plant without guano, weighed l^ lbs. and only had one 
ear. — " I find the best mode of applying guano is to hollow out the hill., 
put in one teaspoonful and a half of guano, and mix it well with the soil. 
Spread even, then put on this about one or one and a half inch depth of 
light soil, on which sow the seed and cover up. When the corn is about 
twelve inches high, or the time of first hoeing, begin with the hoe about 
four inches from the stems, and make a trench the width of the hoe 
about two or three inches deep. Spread in this trench about three or 
four teaspoonfuls guano, stir it in, and cover the trench as quickly as 
possible. If this last operation can be performed just before or during 
rain, the action will be quicker and more effectual." 

Four or five teaspoonfuls of dry powder producing such an effect, is 
what staggers the belief of those who see with their own eyes. 



39 

So great is the luxuriance of growth from such an insignificant ap- 
plication, it is necessary to increase the space nearly double between 
the hills. In a country where fodder is so valuable as it is in Massachu- 
setts, the great increaseof stalks is of equal importance with the increase 
of grain. Indian corn requires both phosphate of lime and magnesia 
which it finds in guano, in combination with ammonia, in a state just 
-eady to be absorbed by the growing plant, wherever brought in contact, 
with its roots. 

Mr. T. found the guanoed corn planted May 22d, ripened sooner than 
that planted May 1st. with manure. This alone on account of the diffi- 
culty from frost, is sufficient to give it great claim upon northern 
farmers. 

Effect on Grass. — ^" The application of this manure to grass land al- 
ready laid down is for many reasons often attended with uncertain re- 
sults. The best mode is, to spread broadcast about 250 lbs. per acre of 
the Peruvian guano as soon as the snow is off the ground. It would be 
very advantageous if, after it was spread on, some light loam could be 
put over it, in the manner of a top dressing. I state the Peruvian guano 
is the best for this operation, as it contains what Dr. Urc calls potential 
ammonia, or ammonia in a more permanent form ; whereas the ammonia 
from the Ichaboe guano evaporates more easily, and this valuable in- 
gredient is therefore lost in the atmosphere when it is spread on the 
surface. 

" Most excellent crops have been obtained, where the grass is sown 
and laid down in the autumn, on light, sandy soils, by sowing the guano 
evenly broadcast, then harrowing twice, sowing the grass seed, and 
rolling." 

The best mode of applying it, however, is to sow broadcast and plow 
it in — at the south, on sandy soils, no matter how deep — at the north 
on soils more clayey, plow it in about four inches deep — the real object 
being to so mix it with the soil as to prevent the escape of ammonia, 
which is exceedingly volatile. Remember, Guano should never be used 
as a top dressing, except in combination with plaster, or some other 
sub.stance which will prevent the escape of the most valuable portion of 
its composition. 

" In several case, where sods have been laid down for lawns or em- 
bankments round houses, the most surprising growth ha? been obtained 
by strewing the surface with guano previous to laying on the sod. 

E. Baylies, of Taunton, sowed 460 lbs. African guano per acre, with 
grass seed, which yielded, this year, one ton per acre more than that 
vithout ; and the appearance of the guanoed grass is now much more 
' ick, luxuriant, and promising, for next year than the other. 

•• Another friend of mine sowed grass in sandy soil with a full quan- 



tity of manure, and an adjoining acre, with 400 lbs. Ichaboe guano. Th 
guanoed acre grew stronger, and retained its full verdure the whok 
winter; the manured piece, on the contrary, became, as usual, brown by 
the action of the frost." 

Mr. T. as well as nearly all the English writers upon the subject, has 
noticed the improvement in quality as well as quantity of grain and 
garden vegetables. It is a well authenticated fact, that birds wont 
touch the manured wheat, while they can obtain that which is much 
more plump and rich where guano has been applied. 

Effects on Trees and Grape Vines. " The experiments with guano on 

trees which have come under my observation, including exotics number 
about one hundred and fifty. The action has invariably been to pro- 
duce large foliage, of a deep healthy green." 

The best mode of applying guano to fruit-trees, or flowering shrubs, 
is to dig it into the earth at such distance from the trunk as will be like- 
ly to meet the largest number of fibrous roots. 

"For instance, round an apple-tree often years' standing, dig a trench 
one or one and a half foot deep, at about the same distance from the 
stem that the branches extend ; let this trench be about one foot wide ; 
then put at the bottom one and a half inch depth of guano, dig it well 
in, and incorporate it with the soil ; then cover up carefully and press 
the earth down. The effect of this application will unquestionably be 
felt for several years." 

On grape vines, the action of guano has been proved exceedingly be- 
neficial; increasing the growth of vines and fruit, improving the flavor 
and hastening the ripening, so as to escape early frosts. 

In planting young trees, put about a pint in the bottom of the hole cov- 
ering with soil so the roots will not touch it. No insects or grubs will 
disturb the roots of such a tree. 

" Several friends, who have tried guano this year on their pear-trees, 
have reported to me the result to be greater crops, and of a much larger 
size, than they ever had previously." 

Guano on Peas — Method of Applying. — The kinds on which I experi- 
mented were Prince Albert, Shilling's early grotto, (a dwarf pea,) blue 
imperial, and marrowfat. Draw a deep trench with a hoe, strew guano 
in the trench, mix it up with the soil, over this put about one inch 
and a half of earth, then sow the seed, and cover up. The quantity 
used should about equal the quantity of seed. The produce of the three 
first kinds of peas, was five full pecks to the quart of seed, besides a full 
quart of seed gathered for next year. From the marrowfats I obtained 
only four pecks and a half, and no seed. The growth of all was ex- 
tremely luxuriant. The marrowfats were six and a hiilf feet high, me 
stems from one to one and a quarter inch in circumference. Grua>, > 



41 

should be placed at such a depth that the natural moisture of the earth 
will decompose it and render it fit for the plant. In the lightest soils- 
plow and bury guano a little deeper than in others more heavy; the gu- 
ano itself retains moisture, and absorbs it naturall}^ 

Guano on Beans, doubled the yield of a paralel row, while the improv- 
ed flavor was perceptible to those who had no idea of the cause which 
produced it. In drouth, the power given plants by guano, to Tesist the 
scorching raj's of the sun, is remarkable. 

On Melons, the effect was equally favorable, giving a large increase 
of highly flavored fruit. 

On Potatoes. — ^We give out of many equally favorable, only one ex- 
periment, just to show the ability of farmers to grow this crop in the 
most unsuitable soil, by a small expenditure for guano, twenty percent, 
better than with manure. Here it is. "Soil, very sandy and light; 
quantity, 800 lbs. African (per ship Samos) to the acre; cost, $20. Same 
soil, with twenty-two loads fine compost manure, cost $22. Yield, as 
eleven to nine, or twenty-two per cent, in favor of guano, the potatoes 
with which were larger than the others.' 

On Turnips, no manure is equal to guano. The crop has been doub- 
led in numerous instances. Mr. T. says of one experiment he made, 
*' The plants on this portion are now twice as large as those which have 
not had any. It is perfectly beautiful to see the luxuriance of all these 
guanoed veirrtables compared with the others. 

On Strawberries, nothing has ever been applied equal to guano, pro- 
vided the plants are plentifully watered. The best mode of application 
is in solution. One pound is enough for for ten gallons of water. 

On Caulifloicers, — Two experiments, one with guano, the other with a 
solution. The first are fine strong plants, particularly one to which I 
gave a larger share than the other; it is heading finely. But those 
with the solution are much larger and finer. I have been accustomed 
to observe the cultivation of this vegetable, and never saw such a luxu- 
riant growth. They are now, (Sept. 15th) beginning to show flower; 
and, if the season is favorable, I expect the heads will be very fine. The 
plants are at least four times larger than tho.se on the same piece with- 
out guano, or any manure at all, planted on the same day, from the 
same .seed bed. 

On Rhubarb or Pie Plant, guano has the most decided beneficial effect, 
increasing the size, flavor and tenderness of the stalk ; besides the very 
great advantage of bringing it forward some two or tiiree weeks earlier 
in the spring. Fork it in all over the bed, just as early as the frost will 
permit, at the rate of 600 lbs. to the acre. 

On Asparagus, the same treatment will more than double the quantity 
of this excellent, healthy vegetable. In the fall, give a dressing of sail 



42 

equal to 15 or 20 bushels to the acre. With the guano, nothing else 
need be applied, if it is thoroughly mixed with the soil. 

For Vegetables, Plants, Trees, and Shrubbery generally, where fruit i.s an 
object, apply the guano as above, in powder. Where flowers of rare 
size and beauty are desired, apply it in solution, or by frequently stir- 
ring in small dressings just before a shower. Another important obser- 
vation on this subject is, that guano, or its .solution, should never bo 
applied except at that period of the season when the growth of wood is 
proper and natural. 

In forcing houses, nothing can be equal to guano. One thing, it pro- 
duces no weeds, or insecto ; this is enough to insure its favor wherever it 
may be tried. 

On roses, the beneficial effect is already well known. If tea roses are 
cut down when the bloom is over, repotted in fresh earth, and well wa- 
tered twice or thrice a week, with guano water, they will immediately 
throw out luxuriant shoots, and be covered with their fragrant blossoms. 
The cactus tribe will bear a larger quantity and stronger solution of 
guano, without injury, than most other plants. 

" During the progress of my experiments," says Mr. T., " I have been 
delighted with the unfailing and extraordinary luxuriance of growth 
and produce on a miserable spot of land, induced by the use of this ma- 
nure, and struck with the numerous instances which have come to my 
knowledge of erroneous applications of it. On a stiff clay, guano would 
be of little value, except on the surface, or an inch or two deep, unless 
it were considerably lightened by the addition of sand, or well broken 
up by exposure, in ridges, to frost, as every clay soil should be. A 
light, porous, sandy soil would require 300 lbs. Peruvian, or 400 lbs. best 
Ichaboe ; and for this soil I think the Peruvian best adapted, as it re- 
tains the ammonia longer, and, being less soluble in water than the Ich- 
aboe, its qualities are not so soon washed out. 

In a soil already much enriched with manure, and at the same time 
abounding in phosphate of lime, I have found the guano to produce less 
visible effects than on a poor, sandy soil. 

Most excellent effects have been produced by steeping seeds in gu- 
ano water of moderate strength for eight to twelve hours, dependent on 
the kind of seeds, and then planting with one to three inches soil be- 
tween the seed and the guano. The steep encourages the growth of 
the young plant, whose roots, in a more advanced stage, find the gu- 
ano, which continues the stimulus. 

Quantity for a Steep. — Put one, one and a half, or two teaspoonfuls of 
guano, according to quality, in a quart bottle, shake up, and when set- 
tled, use ; then refill and use two or three times, previous to putting in 
fresh guano. Or, in the large way, from fifteen to twenty gallons oi 



43 

water to one pound ; mix in a barrel, stir up and leave it to settle, tak 
ing care, however, to put a cover on, to prevent the escape of ammonia. 

DIKBCTIONS AS TO QUANTITY AND MANNER OF APPLYIN& GtTANO TO 
VARIOUS CROPS AND SOILS. 

The best action of guano is undoubtedly upon naturally poor or worn 
out light sandy soils. Next sandy loam — then loam proper — then clayey 
loam or exhausted gravelly soil, and lastly cold stiff clay, or land na- 
turally wet. Upon the first particularly at the south, it should always 
be plowed in from four to six inches deep ; and will always afford the 
greatest profit when applied to wheat land and that sown with clover. 

Preparation of guano for tise. — Until some ingenious Yankee invents a 
cheap mill by which he will make a fortune and the lumps be easily 
ground, the following method may be pursued. Take the bags on the 
barn floor or in some close room with tight floor and sift the guano over 
a box, through a |- mesh sieve, putting the fine back in the bags and 
lumps on the floor. These may be mashed with a stout hoe or shovel, 
or with a block like a pavier's rammer. Sift and break again until all 
is fine. Lay the dust with a very slight sprinkle from the nose of a 
watering pot ; of a solution of copperas, at the rate of 10 Ib.'^. to the cwt. 
of guano, or with plaster or loamy earth — woods mould or dry fine clay. 
Many persons prefer to mix plaster with the guano in the first instance 
at the rate of a peck of plaster to a bushel of guano — others use an 
equal weight of each. Where plaster is not to be had, from five to ten 
bushels of pulverized charcoal or dust from the coal pit, or pulverized 
peat, to each hundred weight of guano may be used to fix the ammonia 
and prevent loss. Sulphpric acid 1 lb. to 10 of water, with which to 
sprinkle the mass may be used as a fixer. But if it is kept in the 
bags, in a dry room, until ready for use, and then prepared, sown and 
plowed in at once with as little exposure to the air as possible, very 
little of the ammonia will escape. The true axiom to be observed in 
the use of guano, is to plow it in as soon as possible. after it is sown and 
before it is moistened with dew or rain ; and to plow it in deep, or in 
some way thoroughly incorporate it with the soil, so that rains will not 
wash it away, or hot sunshine cause it to evaporate. VVe hold all top- 
dressings with guano, to be wasteful, on account of its volatile character, 
and because it needs the moisture in the earth to fit the substance of 
which it is composed so its fertilizing properties can be taken up by the 
roots of the plants. If spread upon the surface, it must wait for a dis- 
solving shower to carry it down to the roots ; in the meantime, it is 
moistened by dews and evaporated by the sun, and carried off to enrich 
your neighbor's crops half as much as your own. 



44 

Preparing Land and Soicing. — When ready to plow tlie land for wheat, 
measure an acre and lay it off in lands 18 feet wide ; put the guano in 
a pail and walk up one side and down the other witli a moderate step 
throwing handfuUs across at each step, and you will tind you do not 
vary much from two hundred pounds to the acre. Never sow in a windy 
day if it can be avoided, nor faster than it can be plowed in the same 
day. 

To prevent guano fro)n getting into the mouth and \iostrils. — Take a thin 
piece of sponge and wet it and tie over the mouth and nose. Whenever 
the dust accumulates, wash it out. If you must sow while the wind is 
blowing, mix earth enough with guano to prevent blowing away. 

Depth it should be plowedi7i. — On light sandy land, there is no danger 
of its ever being plowed in too deep. On sandy loam, it ought to be 
plowed under at least six inches — eight inches would be better. On 
true loam, a less depth will answer, though we are strong advocates of 
Jeep plowing. On clayey loam, four inches will answer, and on clay, 
particularly in the Northern States, if well harrowed or put in with 
the cultivator, there will be no great loss of ammonia, as the clay is a 
great absorber of that volatile substance. This rule may in general be 
observed; upon the light lands of the south, it cannot be too deeply 
buried ; in the clay lands, or in the more heavy, cold, or moist lands of 
the north, it may be covered too deep to benefit the first crop ; but, if 
the after cultivation is good, whatever is planted will be sure to be be- 
nefitted. Upon granite soils, it will be of less value than silicious or 
aluminous ones. Though most valuable on poor sandy or worn out old 
fields like those of Virginia, already described, still it must not be re- 
jected by the owner of any land which can be improved by manure, 
because this is a manure of the very best and most concentrated kind ; 
containing more of the ingredients necessary to promote vegetable 
growth, in the exact proportion and combination, ready prepared for 
use, than any other substance in the known world. It is a fertilizing 
substance which none will reject who once learn its value, unless very 
deeply prejudiced. It is idle to reject it because the Peruvian Govern- 
ment wont let us have it at our own price, because we can profit by it 
at theirs. It is nonsense to say, it will answer in the moist climate of 
England, but not in our dry one. Truth deduced from experience, in 
several States, in various climates and soils, refutes all such sayings. 
Besides, it has been used with continued success in the burning sun and 
soils of Peru, ever since the conquest by the Spaniards, and, according 
to tradition for ages untold previous to that time. 

Guano on Wheat. — We repeat, sow broadcast and plow in upon all 
light lands, deep; at the rate of 200 to 600 lbs. to the acre, as you can 
afford, or as the land requires — we believe in the small quantity and re- 



, 46 

peat the next sowing, to be by far the most judicious. On heavy lands 
you may harrow or cultivate it in, but the plow is better. It will do 
well on lands previously limed, but should never be mixed with lime or 
ashes, unless mixed with plaster or charcoal. If you must use it as a 
top dressing in the spring, mix a bushel of plaster with every hundred 
of guano, sow and harrow in — don't be afraid of injuring the wheat. 
Always sow clover or grass on guanoed grain. 

On I-ndian Corn. — Follow the same directions as for wheat, or if the 
land is already rich, and you wish to give the corn an early start, scat- 
ter at the rate of 100 to 200 lbs. guano in the furrow, and cover it two 
inches deep with another furrow and then drill the corn. Be sure and 
never let the seed come in contact with the guano, or you will kill it 
most certainly. Guanoed corn .should be sowed in wheat, particularly 
whenever it has been dressed with a large quantity. 

To growing Corn, if it is desirable to -apply it, turn a furrow away 
from the. row on each side and scatter in th? bottom at the rate of 300 
lbs. per acre, and turn back the earth immediately. 

Green Corn — roasting ears — are improved in taste by guano beyond 
anything ever conceived of by the lovers of this luscious food. 

Quantity per acre. — Thomas S. Pleasants of Petersburg, Va., a well- 
known writer upon agriculture, and who has had much practical experi- 
ence ever since the first introduction of guano into this country, says: — 
" Corn is a gross feeder and will take up a greater quantity of guano 
than perhaps any other crop. I have known as much as 600 lbs. ap- 
plied to the acre and the product was in proportion. Each hundred 
pounds will give an avereige product of ten bushels as various experi- 
ments have proved From the above mentioned application of 600 lbs. 
a product of 73 bushels was obtained, which left 13 bushels as the pro- 
duct of the soil alone. For corn, guano may be spread broadcast on the 
land and ploughed in as deeply as it is desirable to break the soil; or 
it may be strewed along deep furrows to be afterwai'ds ridged over 
and the cultivation to be in only one direction. The best result I ever 
obtained was from this latter mode, when from land not capable of pro- 
ducing five bushels, I harvested a crop that could not have been less 
than 35 bushels to the acre. 

The furrows were opened deep and wide by passing the plow both 
ways and the guano strewed along these at the rate 1 lb. per every ten 
yards. They were then covered over and. the land thereby thrown into 
beds. But in whatever way it is used, the roots of the corn will be sure 
to find it all, and between these two modes, I think there is little or no 
choice. I would certainly advise against putting it in the hill, though 
I have sometimes seen good results. It is difficult, however, in such a 
case, to prevent the guano and seed from coming into close contact ; 



46 

and, unless there are two or three inches of earth interposed between 
them the seed will be certainly destroyed. 

" For wheat, the guano should be spread broadcast at the time of seed- 
ing the wheat, at the rate of 200 lbs. to 250 lbs. per acre and ploughed 
in. If the land has been previously fallowed, it will be sufficient to 
plow it in with a one horse plow ; if broken up for the first time, 
there will be no objection to using a larger plough. The best depth 
for getting it in, however, is, I think, from four to six inches. It always 
acts more powerfully on clean land ; indeed if there is much crude ve- 
getable matter in the soil, there is frequently little or no advantage de- 
rived from its application. Experience, therefore goes to show that the 
most economical application is to corn land ; that is, to land that has 
just produced a crop of corn, no matter how poor it may be. If it is in- 
tended to be put on land that has been lying in grass, it would be ad- 
visable to fallow it as early in the season as practicable, and afterwards 
to get it in with a small plow as already suggested. 

The same direction will apply to oats and also to rye. But for oats. 
125 to 150 lbs of guano will be as much as can be used to advantage. 

A. B. Allen of New York, one of the earliest, and most strenuous ad- 
vocates of using guano, who, long before he ever thought of being en 
gaged in its sale, used to distribute small parcels among farmers and 
gardeners to enable them to try experiments and learn its value, in a 
letter to the Southern Cultivator, says: — ^" Never put guano in the hill 
with corn, no matter if covered two or three inches deep; for the roots 
will be certain to find it, and so sure as Ihey touch the guano, so caustic 
is it, that it will certainly kill the corn ; the same with peas, beans, 
melon vines, in fact most vegetable crops. Wheat and other small grains 
have so many roots, and tiller so well, there is no danger of guano kill- 
ing them, when sown directly with the seed. Still, as before remarked, 
it is better to plough it in before sowing the seed. 

After corn is up, you may apply a table spoonful, at the first time 
hoeing ; dig it an inch or two deep six inches from each stalk. A table 
spoonful to the hill will take 250 to 350 lbs., per acre, according to the 
distance the hills are apart. If the soil be rather poor, a second dose 
at the time the corn first shows its silk, will add considerably to the 
yield in grain, if followed by rains, but little or nothing to the growth 
of stalk. Guano increases the size of grain more than stalks ; hence 
one must be content to wait till the grain is fully matured before giving 
an opinion of the virtues of guano. 

" Before applying the guano, it is better to mix it well with an equal 
quantity of plaster of Paris or charcoal dust. Either of these substances 
help to retain the ammonia and prevent its evaporation. 



47 

" The genuine unadulterated Peruvian guano, is so much superior to 
any other kind, it is in reality the cheapest, though the price is consider- 
able higher than that of the other qualities." 

Guano on Oats. — Mr. Allen says, " I am satisfied from experience and 
observation in the use of guano, for the past twelve years, that the best 
method, decidedly, of applying it to crops in our dry climate, is to plow 
or spade it into the ground; and autumn is the best time for doing this, 
as it gives time for the pungent salts contained in the guano, to get 
thoroughly mixed with the soil before spring planting. Do not fear to 
loose the guano by plowing it in as deep as you please — it will not run 
away, depend upon it. At the south, it loses half its virtue if not plowed 
in at least three inches deep ; six or twelve inches would be still better. 

Because "autumn is, for many reasons, the best season " for applying 
guano, as a general thing, we do not recommend an application to this 
crop, notwithstanding our full conviction it will increase the product 
upon any light, poor soil, from ten to twenty bushels to the acre, for 
each cwt. applied. As some however, will find it more convenient and 
profitable to manure the oat than wheat crop, we recommend them to 
plow in from 200 to 300 lbs. to the acre, on ground that was clean tilled 
the previous year, and sow the oats in drills, three or four bushels to 
the acre and seed with clover, herds, or ray grass. If not to be followed 
with grass, we would use a much less quantity; say 125 or 150 lbs. to 
the acre. As may be seen in the account of Mr. Harris' crop, not one 
half of the 400 lbs. was taken up by the oats. With wheat, on the con- 
trary, the guano is dissolved more slowly by winter rains, giving the 
crop a vigorous growth in fall, and sometimes all winter, so it sends out 
double the number of stalks in spring. The sun too, is so much less 
powerful at that season, evaporation does not take place so easily as in 
summer. 

Great Crops from. Guano. — In England, 48 bushels of wheat and 100 
of oats have been made from an acre dressed with 200 lbs. of guano. A 
late English writer, in detailing his own experiments, and urging others 
to the same course, says ; "The reason guano is serviceable to all plants 
arises from its containing every saline and organic matter required as 
food. It is used beneficially on all soils ; for, as it contains every ele- 
ment necessary to plants, it is independent of the quality of the soil. So 
far as the experiments in England and Scotland may be adduced, one 
cwt. of guano is equal to about five tons of farm-yard manure, on an 
average ; but it is much higher for turnips than for grass." 

Guano on Grass — As we are opposed to using it as a top dressing, of 
course we shall not recommend its application to this crop. Generally, 
by using it on wheat and other crops, the farmer will save manure 
enough to top dress his meadows. Nevertheless, in combination with 



48 

proper ingredients, we do say it is a good and profitable manure for 
grass. For each acre mix from 200 to 400 lbs. with as many bushels of 
plaster, or ten to one of charcoal, or twenty to one of dry swamp muck 
or peat, woods mould or fine clay, and sow upon the meadow or pasture 
early in spring. If the season is moist, the benefit will be very great ; 
if dry, it will probably be said, as it has been before ; " Oh, this guano 
is good for nothing — I tried it once on grass and it never done a bit of 
good." 

On potatoes, 400 lbs. to the acre, broadcast, may be used to good ad- 
vantage, if it is plowed in deep enough, on clean land. As it is a caus- 
tic manure, and requires a good deal of moisture, as well as potatoes, it 
is not suitable for the hill or surface dressing. A less quantity will pay 
a greater profit to the immediate crop, without much after benefit, if it 
is drilled in the bottom of a deep furrow and then covered by turning 
two furrows, one from each side, so as to leave a slight depression be- 
tween them, and directly over the guano. Upon these beds plant the 
tubers in drills. After hoeing, scatter a mi.xture of equal parts of lime, 
salt, ashes and plaster, a large handful every yard, all over the rows, 
and we will warrant the crop free from the potato rot. 

On turnips, nothing can exceed guano, unless the phosphate of lime 
in bones could be rendered equally pulverulent. Use3 to600lbs. per acre, 
and plow it in at the last plowing, and top dress with five bushels of 
ashes and two of salt, as soon as the turnips are up. Follow with wheat 
or rye and grass. One half the above quantity and five bushels of bone 
dust dissolved in sulphuric acid, will produce a wonderful crop of tur- 
nips, or ruta bagas. Guano may be used to equal advantage upon all 
kinds of root crops. 

Benefits to the Dairy Farmer — The beneficial use of guano in the man- 
ufacture of butter and cheese, is unquestionable. In many districts in 
England, and in some in this country, the continual cropping of grass 
and conversion of it into cheese, has so exhausted the soil of its phos- 
phates, the milk will no longer produce the quantity of casein neces- 
sary to make cheese making profitable. When this is the case, you 
will find the cows seeking to supply the deficiency by eating bones. 
Wherever guano has been used upon pasture land, it is found that cows 
eat the increased luxuriant grass most greedily, and improve not only 
in quantity but quality of their milk. We cannot, therefore, recommend 
too earnestly, to all dairy farmers, to give their pasture lands an imme- 
diate dressing of guano. If you have not full faith in what we are tell- 
ing you, try an experiment for yourself. Mix 200 or 300 lbs. of guano 
with two or three bushels of plaster, and that with two or three loads of 
charcoal dust from the bottom of some coal pit, or from burnt peat, or 



49 

swamp muck; or, if the charcoal is not attainable, use woods mold, or 
powdered clay or fine loam, to any extent you can afford ; and if you 
can afford nothing but the guano and plaster, don't fail to afford a dress- 
ing of that, because it will afford you a rich return. No other manure 
can be used upon pasture land, to produce the same effect. Cattle never 
reject the grass of guanoed land, as they do that lately manured. 

On Flax. — Experiments in England have proved guano superior to 
any other substance ever applied to this crop. With the aid of this ma- 
mure, farmers will never complain of flax exhausting the soil. With 
300 lbs. per acre, successive large crops can be grown upon the same 
ground. It should be plowed in, but not so deeply as for some other 
crops, as it is not expected to benefit succeeding ones as much as the 
present. As soon as the " flax cotton" movement now progressing is 
fully understood, there will be immense fields of flax grown for that 
purpose, and the best and most economical fertilizing material, and for 
which there will be a large demand, will be Peruvian guano ; for no 
good farmer will attempt to grow a crop without it. A top dressing of 
26 or 30 bushels of ashes to the acre will be found beneficial ; but farm- 
ers ought to try which is best, more guano and less or no ashes, or the 
reverse. We cannot advise rotation with this crop, where guano is used, 
because the ground becomes so clean and free from weeds, it is of great 
advantage, and so far as we are informed, contmuous good crops result 
from the annual application of the same quantity of guano, year after 
year. 

On Cabbages. — Field culture. After the ground is well prepared, lay 
It off in checks three to four feet square. With a spade, throw out a 
deep spit at each check and put in a spoonful of guano, or at the rate of 
400 lbs. per acre, and cover with soil. Set the plants immediately ?nd 
water if possible. After the first hoeing, throw a handful of ashes on 
each plant. 

For Carrots, Beets and Parsnips, plow in 500 lbs. per acre, twelve to 
eighteen inches deep. Top dress with asHes, salt, and fine manure in 
compost, to assist the young plants ; the long roots will find the guano 
and it will produce such a crop as you never saw before. 

On Hops. — Make a mixture of three cwt. of guano, one of .salt, one and 
a half of saltpetre, and one of gypsurn, for each acre; sow broadcast 
and plow in about four inches deep, and you will find your manure well 
paid for, and no exhaustion of the soil, as is usually the case wherever 
this crop is cultivated, as it is a very gross feeder, and requires very 
rich land or great deal of manure; for which reason it is not as much 
cultivated as it will be as soon as the virtues of the above application 
become fuUv known. 



60 

For Tobacco, guano has been found to possess superior qualities, par- 
ticularly in obviating the difficulty heretofore experienced in getting 
plants sufficiently early. We have the testimony of several witnesses 
to prove that burning a seed bed is quite unnecessary, if guano at the 
rate of 400 to 600 lbs. to the acre be mixed with an equal amount of 
ashes, and plaster and well raked in previous to sowing. Of the effect 
upon the crop, we give the testimony of a Virginia planter. 

" In the spring of 1850, 1 applied 200 lbs. to the acre, on eight aeres of 
land, which had been manured three years before for tobacco, and the 
same quj.ntit)'', on three acres which had never been manured, and was 
very poor. On the last I also turned in some half rotted straw, raked 
up in the barn yard, after all the farm yard manure had been hauled 
out. Between these two pieces of land, 19 acres were heavily manured. 
The whole 30 acres had been well broken with four horses, early in the 
winter. The last year was the worst I have ever known for tobacco. 
Nevertheless, the first eight acres produced a very fine crop — the last 
three aeres brought much better tobacco than the adjoining manured 
land, I should say not less than 600 lbs. to the acre." 

Wheat on Guanoed Tobacco Land. — This field was sown with wheat, and 
the writer says — "I measured from these 30 acres next year upwards 
of 600 bushels of wheat of very fine quality ; both pieces of guanoed land 
being above the average of the whole lot. Adjoining the three acres is 
an equal quantity of land of the same quality, which did not yield five 
bushels to the acre." 

Of the effect upon another crop of wheat, the same gentleman says — 
" Two years ago 1 purchased three tons, two of which I applied to 20 
acres of a James River hill, which though not gullied, ♦had been a good 
deal worn by hard croppings, or bad cultivation, or both combined. 
The Guano was sowed dry, and on the wide rows laid off for sowing 
wheat, and ploughed in with two horses, the wheat then harrowed in. 
I forgot to say that the land_ had been fallowed in with three horses in 
the month of August, and the wheat sowed in October. In consequence 
of the dryness of the guano, and the width of the rows, the wheat was 
very much striped, being very luxuriant where the guano fell in the 
largest quantities. The product did not exceed 200 bushels, or 10 bush- 
els to the acre, but the quality was so superior that I saved it all for 
seed." 

" The land sowed two years ago, is now striped with clover, as it was 
with wheat." 

This land is a tenacious red clay formation, from which the soil we 
presume has all been washed away " long time ago." No planter, he 
says, would have put such land in tobacco without heavy manuring ; 
and yet it produced a fair crop of tobacco. Owing«to distance from na- 



51 

vigation, he would not use lime, or any heavy manure, and without gu- 
ano he could not make crops, and, consequently could not make manure 
at home. 

The editor of the American Farmer, in a note says — " Our correspon- 
dent appears to desire that his land should be brought to a state of fer- 
tility by the quickest practicable process, and from the beautiful results 
of his experiments with guano, we know of no agent to which he could 
look with so much certainty of success as to that very manure." 

The quantity per acre for Tobacco. — We should recommend at least 400 
lbs. sown broadcast and plowed in, on such land as described, not over 
four inches deep. The tobacco to be followed with wheat, the wheat 
with clover, the clover after one year with corn and then tobacco and 
guano again. The clover should have a bushel of plaster fall and 
spring. Whoever tries this will find the benefit of guano on tobacco. 
But there is one still greater benefit ; we have been assured that the to- 
bacco worm which it was supposed from his natural taste, nothing could 
nauseate, actually gets sick of guano, and refuses his accustomed food. 

Another mode of applying it to tobacco has been practised successfully 
as follows: — Mark off the land in checks and put a small spoonful in 
each check, and cover up directly under the bed where the plant is to 
stand, three or four inches deep. To this a handful of ashes and pias- 
ter may be advantageously added. Guano does not give tobacco the 
rank flavor that is often acquired from high manuring. 

Mr. Pleasants, although many experiments have fiiiled, principally, as 
he believes, from improper application, says in a recent letter — ^" There 
is no actual reason why guano should not act as well on tobacco, as any 
other crop. The failures are doubtless to be ascribed to the injudicious 
manner in which it has been applied. I can conceive of only one mode 
in which it can be used to advantage, and that is by strewing it along a 
deep furrow as described for corn ; then bedding upon it and confining 
the cultivation to one direction. This has been my way of cultivating 
cabbages for the market for several years, and the guano has always 
acted promptly and powerfully. If chopped in at the base of the hill 
it would require a great quantity of rain to dissolve it and make it avail- 
able to the young plants, for the conical shape of the hill has a tendency 
to shed the rain instead of absorbing it. I expect soon to receive very 
accurate results of a crop grown with guano, which Judge Nash repre- 
sented to me as splendid. If I cultivated tobacco, I should have every con- 
fidence of success by planting it on ridges with the Guano buried at a 
considerable depth, say from four to six inches beneath the surface of 
the ridge—-! lb. to ten yards would be a sufficient quantity. 

In short, I consider guano good for any crop. For potatoes (that 
is Irish potatoes) I regard it as a specific manure. The quantity I ap- 



52 

ply is f lbs. to every ten yards put in the furrows as recommended for 
corn and tobacco, and then covered over about one inch with earth 
drawn from the sides of the furrows. After this the potato cuttings are 
planted and covered over with the plough or hoe. The quantity recom- 
mended is about right as far as my experience goes (which is of several 
years duration) if the cuttings are placed about two inches apart." 

Guano for Cotton. — But few trials upon this crop have come to our 
knowledge, but such as have, indicate that it will prove one of the most 
valuable promoters of the growth of this staple product of America ever 
discovered. The analysis of cotton — stalk, seed and lint — compared 
with that of guano, is sufficient to prove the latter to be the very mat- 
ter required to produce the former. We are assured upon the most re- 
liable authority that guano will give an average increase of pound for 
pound upon any soil producing less than a bale per acre So that every 
pound of guano costing two and a half cents, will give a pound of cot- 
ton averaging at least 6J cents. 

Mode of applying on Cotton Land. — Open a deep furrow and drill in the 
bottom at the rate of 400 lbs. to the acre, upon land usually producing 
300 to 500 lbs. seed cotton, and less for a better quality of land, down 
to one-fourth the quantity. Bed on this as deep as you please ; the 
moisture of the earth will disengage the ammonia and phosphates, and 
send their fertilizing properties up to the roots. Never use guano as a 
top-dressing for cotton. The seed will be found better matured, and 
consequently more valuable to manure another crop, besides being so 
much easier separated from the lint, which will be found as much im- 
proved in quality as quantity. For Sea Island planters, where manure 
, is so valuable and so hard to obtain, we would earnestly recommend a 
thorough trial of guano. As the land for this crop is mostly prepared 
with hoes, care must be taken that the servants do not neglect to bury 
it at the very bottom of a good bed. 

From the knowledge the writer has of the culture and value of long 
staple cotton, and the price and value of guano, he has no hesitation in 
expressing his honest conviction that a clear profit of two to four hun- 
dred per cent, may be made upon every dollar expended in the purchase 
and proper application of guano to that crop. 

Guano, for all staple crops in the United States, is no longer an ex- 
periment. It has been clearly demonstrated, to be the cheapest and 
most valuable fertilizer, particularly for all poor, worn out, hard used 
and exhausted soils ever discovered ; which no sensible man will neglect 
to profit by, as soon as he learns its value, unless prevented by deep 
prejudice or strong circumstances. 

Application to Miscellaneous Crops. — Under this head we will give the 
experience of several individuals in various sections, soils and climates, 



53 

in hopes it may encourage the doubtful, and direct those who are dis- 
posed to emerge from darkness into the light of scientific agriculture. 
A gentleman from Warsaw, Virginia, where the soil is generally a 
sandy loam, badly worn by long years of bad tillage, says, " My wheat 
looks finely, especially where I applied guano last fall. I put it in with 
the seed furrow about three inches deep, and also with double plow six 
inches deep, harrowing in the wheat frequently side by side. At this 
time I can see no difference in the wheat crop. I use a large wooden 
toothed harrow extending over the bed of ten feet, and an even soil, 
free from stone; they do admirable work and drill the wheat as if put 
in with the drill. 

Willoughby Newton, whose operation we have already spoken of, says; 
"I do not believe it possible to improve a farm, on the old three shift 
system, of corn, wheat and pasture, without a large supply of foreign 
manures. If clover can be substituted for pasture in the summer, then 
the land, if not naturally poor, may be rapidly improved by the use of 
lime alone, in addition to the putrescent manures that may, by proper 
care, be made on the farm. On other land of less fertility, and drier, I 
greatly prefer the five field system, under which, with the use of lime, 
guano and clover, a rapid improvement may be effected at the same 
time that heavy crops of wheat are reaped." 

Another writer in speaking of how to improve worn out lands, says; 
"Let whatever little surplus he can spare from supplying the necessary 
wants of his family be laid out in the purchase of some one of the reli- 
able concentrated manures. [Guano is by far the cheapest, and there- 
fore the best for him, if he will plow it in well]. And my observation 
and experience have convinced me that he may make such improve- 
ment as will bring him a quick return, and soon enable him to get his 
farm well set in grass. This once effected, his focilities for its further 
improvement will assuredly increase in a ratio just in proportion as he is 
careful to pursue the course indicated. If a farmer can succeed in gel- 
ting his fields well set in grass, a large and long array of facts and ex- 
perience have proved that he may then, under a judicious course of 
management, render them more and more fertile without foreign aid of 
any kind whatever." 

The editor of the American Farmer, in deprecating the price of guano 
says, " Of the efficacy of guano, in restoring worn out lands to produc- 
tiveness— of its capacity to increase the yield of any lands in a sound 
condition— there cannot be a doubt; but even with all its regenerating 
properties, we do think that its market value is too high. Forty-eight 
dollars for a ton of 2,000 lbs. of Peruvian guano is more than it is in- 
trinsically worth, and should it be continued thus high, must^ we should 



54 

think, limit its use, for the obvious reason, that farmers cannot afford t( 
pay a price for it which is so disproportionate to its real value. 

Yet they do continue to pay, and make it pay a greater profit than 
any other manure ever purchased. We hold to have done as much as 
any other individual to reduce the price of guano, and wish as heartily 
as does the editor of the Am. Farmer, it was only half the price it now 
is; yet, we must counsel our readers not to wait for that cheap time 
coming. It is now cheaper than it was then, and probably as low as it 
will be for years ; and in the hands of the present agents, the public 
may depend upon a regular supply, and of genuine quality, at what the 
Peruvian government deem a fair price. 

Guano for Melons and other Vines. — Mr. Pleasants, of whom we have 
before spoken, and whose long experience iu the use of guano in con- 
nection with a market garden, entitle him to a high degree of credit, 
says, " I have been in the habit of using it for several years, and can 
testify to its value, not only using it for melons, but for the whole tribe 
of cucurbitacse. The mode of application which I prefer is this ; when 
the ground is prepared and checked off, remove the loose soil at the in- 
tersections of the furrows, leaving clear spaces on the substratum of 
not less than eighteen inches in diameter. Upon these spaces sprinkle 
guano, at the rate one pound to eight hills. Follow with a hilling or 
grubbing hoe, and incorporate the guano with the subsoil; then draw 
the loose earth back, and finish by chopping a small quantity, a spade- 
ful or less, of well rotted manure into the hill near the surface. Guano 
placed near the surface, will remain almost inert, and buried deep, as I 
recommended, it will be too remote from the seed to give the young 
plants the quick start which is indispensable to an early crop of melons. 
The small quantity of manure near the top of the hill answers the pur- 
pose of immediate forcing, and enables the roots to strike rapidly into 
the guano, when the growth of the vines will be stimulated to such a 
degree as to cause them to mature their fruit a week or ten days earlier 
than they would do from either guano or manure alone. Melons equally 
fine may be raised from nothing but guano, applied in the manner di- 
rected ; but they will not be an early crop, from the fact that the plants 
remain almost stationary until the roots reach the guano. Last year, 
from such a preparation as is now recommended, I had as fine a crop 
of melons as I ever saw; and they began to ripen at a very early pe- 
riod in the season. Two years ago, I had them nearly or quite as good 
from guano alone ; but they were late. Tiiis year the crop was almost 
a failure, from the wetness of the season, which caused the vines to die. 
Cantelope melons, however, have produced abundantly, grown entirely 
with the aid of guano. Where manure is scarce, I have no doubt an 
admirable compost might be prepared, consisting of guano and rich 



65 

earth. It should be made several weeks, or even months, before it is 
wanted for use ; and the heap worked over frequently in order to bring 
it into a suitable condition. Such a compost would doubtless supply 
the place in the hill which I have assigned to the manure. For pump- 
kins, squashes, cymblins and cucumbers, when it is not particularly de- 
sirable to have them early, nothing more is necessary than to prepare 
the hills with guano." 

The following extract from a letter of E. G. Booth, to F. C. Stain- 
brook, written in that plain familiar style of one friend to another, which 
characterises the man, with an evident intent to do good ; though it was 
not designed for publication, we give it because we believe it will do 
others good, as well as the recipient. Mr. Booth confirms our opinion 
often expressed, that the poor old barren fields of lower Virginia, are 
really more valuable than the rich lands of the west; because, owing 
to facilities of intercourse with commercial cities by water, these lands 
can be bought, and cultivated by aid of guano, with more profit than th6 
richest prairie farm in Illinois. Mr. Booth's testimony upon the du- 
rability of this manure, is enough to contradict all the assertions that "it 
is of no use for only one crop." On his land, strangers can easily tell 
where guano was applied four years previous. 

" Yours of the third has been received, and it affords me pleasure to 
give you any information in my power. The wheat crop during the 
the winter was very unpromising. There was a general complaint that 
it was too thin. The Poland wheat (most generally sown in this neigh- 
borhood,) is said to branch more than other kinds, and I regard the 
present prospect of the wheat crop as flattering, particularly where gu- 
ano was used. It is now a fixed fact, that no poor land ought to be cul- 
tivated without guano, by any person who can command the money or 
credit to buy it. It is remarkable that it pays a much better profit, or 
per cent, on the investment, on poor land, than rich. I was inclined for 
some time to believe that the difference was really in appearance alone. 
The difference of five bushels increase on land which without it would 
bring only fifteen — or in other words, an increase from fifteen to twenty 
bushels to the acre, would not be very perceptible, while an increase 
of five bushels on land previously making only five, would be very evi- 
dent. Still, the real increase would be five bushels in each case. I am 
now however, decidedly of the opinion that it pays a much larger per 
cent, on poor than rich land; because it supplies that in which poor 
land is deficient, and of which rich land may have enough. I have it 
now in strips on a clover fallow, scarcely showing any difference. I 
last applied it on about the poorest land on my plantation, and the pro- 
duct was remarkable. This circumstance much reduces the difference 
between the value of poor and rich land, and admonishes us that there 



66 

is not a plot in our wide extended surface, which need be abandoned or 
neglected. We can, if we manage properly, support a population which 
will out vote the West in 1865. There is another fact which experience 
confirms, that is it is much more durable than at first supposed. My 
visitors have been able to point out the strips of land on which it was 
sown, four years after its application. I noticed a very evident effect 
on the farm of Mr. William Fitzgerald, a few days ago. He last year 
put it in drills, and hilled on them for tobacco, in the fall the whole sur- 
face was sown in wheat, which is now growing in ridges corresponding 
with the furrows where it was placed. 

While on the subject I will mention another fact different from first 
impressions, viz : that it is more productive, (the first crop, at least,) 
when harrowed in with the grain, on the surface, than when turned in 
very deep. I have yet to satisfy myself which is most durable. In the 
experiment which lasted four years, I think it was turned in. The pur- 
chases the ensuing fall will be very large. Those who were most in- 
credulous are now going in largely. A very intelligent and enterpris- 
ing friend of mine, who has been improving his land judiciously and 
profitably in this way, related to me an anecdote which occurred tohim. 
He had two neighbors remarkable for their judgment and success in 
farming as well as other things, who, however, were inclined to under- 
rate his expenditure of money in these elements of improvement. They 
knew he had purchased and used a ton of guano, and thought they 
knew where he had used the whole of it. They went, not exactly by 
night, but rather privately, to examine into the result. They made their 
observations and calculations, and agreed that he had got his money 
back, but no profit worthy consideration, and were only confirmed in 
their opposition to such an expenditure. The truth was, however, that 
only about one eighth of the ton had been used where they calculated 
for the whole. One of these gentlemen, I am informed, is now about 
the largest purchaser of such articles in the county ; and perhaps the 
other also, though I have not been informed." 

PLASTER WITH GUANO. 

A Virginia farmer, in a letter of December 1847, in speaking of using 
plaster with guano, and the effect says — " I am a firm believer in the 
merits of the mixture, and always use it. I have used it on turnips with 
decided effect, as decided as that following any application of guano I 
ever saw. Several farmers of my acquaintance used the mixture of gU- 
ano and plaster, and stable manure and plaster habitually, like myself, 
and one told me he used it half and half, producing the most marked 
effect on wheat, and that a neighbor of his had used it in the same pro- 



67 

portion with the same effect — the usual surprising effect of guano. For 
myself, I used some $400 worth of guano on wheat this fall, the whole 
of it mixed with plaster. I believe the effect of the mixture will not be 
so vigorous on the first crop, as guano by itself— the plaster husbanding 
the ammonia for suceeding crops, upon which the mixture, (if the theory 
be correct,) will have ipore effect than guano unmixed, that being ex- 
hausted by the first crop." 

A gentleman after making sundry careful experiments with plaster 
and carbonate of ammonia, thus expresses his conclusions — "These ex- 
periments prove to me that no matter in what state, (whether wet, moisl 
or dry,) plaster is presented to guano, or any other manure from which 
the carbonate of ammonia is escaping, it must retain a certain amount 
of ammonia that wquld othewise be lost in the atmosphere." 

The editor of the American Farmer says — " If the soil be poor, and 
it be desired to permanently improve it, at least four hundred pounds 
of guano, without respect to the fixer used, should be spread broadcast, 
on every acre of it, and plowed in to the full depth of the furrow. If the 
land be in moderate heart, three hundred pounds will be enough per 
acre. Where the soil may be good, two hundred will be sufficient. 
These quantities, as the reader will observe, have relation to broadcast 
applications, as all should be where general improvement is contemplat- 
ed; if compelled to confine his experiments on corn to applications in 
the hill, a form of manuring, we have ever disapproved, two hundred 
pounds, or even one hundred of guano, will manure an acre, mixed with 
a bushel of plaster, five bushels of slaked ashes, and a double horse cart 
of wood mouU more effective than ten loads of manure applied in the 
hill." 

Yes, as has been proved by careful experiment made in "Rngland, 
more than fourteen tons of manure. The editor also says, what we 
have so often repeated — " We hold these to be agricultural truths — that 
guano is most beneficially applied, when ploughed in as spread on the 
the earth, never less than four inches deep — and better, for permanent 
effect, to be ploughed in deeper, say six to eight inches — where it may 
be desirable only to bury it four inches deep, the land should be pre- 
viously ploughed as deep as the furrow can be turned up, and the guano 
applied at a second ploughing — that all top-dressings with guano are 
wasteful, inasmuch, as from the volatile nature of the more active parts 
of the manure, great loss must inevitably result from all such applica- 
tions, and because, more moisture than is to be found on the surface, is 
necessary to excite, and carry on, that healthful progressive state of de- 
composition, which is required to render guano most available for pre- 
sent production and future improvement. 



58 

" We do not hesitate to express the opinion, that when properly used, 
as an adjunct to lime or marl, that it will bring up any sound worn out 
land, to at least its original degree, if not a greater degree of fertility : 
provided its application be followed b)' clover. We believe that, when 
proper!}' applied to land, either limed or marled the previous year, it 
will add twenty-five, thirty, and, in some instances, forty per cent, to the 
product of wheat; besides infusing into the soil,#he capacity to grow 
luxuriant crops of clover, and thus fit it for profitable future culture. 
If it will do this, and we are certain it will, then it will achieve all that 
any agriculturist can reasonably expect of it, or of any other fertilizing 
agent; and we are very sure there is no other manu''3 equally efficaci- 
ous, within the reach of farmers and planters. 

" Guano differs much in quality; that from Peru, is confessedly best 
of any which has yet been submitted to actual experiment by agricultu- 
rists, or tested by the analysis of chemists, being much richer in its ni- 
trogenous element, than either the Patagonian or African variety. 

He also says — " 400 lbs. of guano and 1 bushel of plaster, will ensure 
a good crop of corn, so will 200 lbs. guano and eight bushels of bone 
earth, or 20 bushels of bone earth, 10 bushels of ashes and 1 bushel of 
plaster. Each to be ploughed in." 

Much more might be said in favor of using plaster with guano, or some 
other fixer of ammonia, wherever it is exposed, on or near the surface. 
We add a few more extracts mainly to show that deep ploughing, and 
plentiful manuring, are the sure guarantee of bountiful crops. Bone- 
dust, except when used in the drill, should always be harrowed in. It 
should be put in bulk with other matters, and excited into an an incipi- 
ent state of decomposition before being used. 

Guano should always be ploughed in, if practicable. Harrowing and 
cultivating in guano " have been practised both in this country and in 
England, by intelligent farmers ; and in various instances have been 
spoken approvingly of, success having attended such applications in 
single crops ; but we doubt whether much, if any permanent benefit 
were done to the soil, in qualifying it for the production of the subse- 
quent crops of a course of rotation. In Peru it is used topically, but 
such applications are always followed by immediate irrigations of the 
soils to which it is applied, the Peruvians acting upon the philosophical 
principal, whether they comprehend its theory or not, that to secure the 
nutrient properties of this active fertilizer to their growing crops, it is 
essential that they provide an absorbent, and that they find in the water 
furnished by their processes of irrigation. Experience, practice, and 
irrigation have taught them, that unless they cause the carbonate of am- 
monia, and the various compound substances with which it exists in the 
guano, to descend speedily to the roots of their plants, that from the vo- 



59 

latility of its more active and efficient elements, they will be expelled 
by the heat of the sun, escape into the air, and be lost for all the pur- 
poses of vegetable growth. 

•■' But in view of the whole ground, taking into consideration the evan- 
escent nature of any ammonia in guano in the compounds in which it 
exists, to be converted into that form, we honestly believe, that so far as 
lasting benefit to the land may be concerned, guano should be ploughed 
in. 

" In all tolerably good Guano, there is a sufficiency of the carbonate 
already formed to carry on healthful vegetation, and therefore, it is best 
to place it sufficiently deep to prevent the waste of an element so essen- 
tial to the growth of plants, and so liable to loss. 

"It is possible where the soil had been, by repeated harro wings, re- 
duced to a state of very fine tilth, that guano may be covered sufficient. 
ly deep with the Cultivator to become mixed with, and consequently be 
absorbed by the vegetable remains of the earth, and thus be prevented 
from loss by escape of its volatile gases; especially would this be the 
case, if the process of cultivating it in, were soon after followed by pe- 
netrating rains. la admitting this, we still adhere to the opinion, that 
so far as permanent benefits are concerned, the most economical mode 
of applying guano to the earih, is by the plough. 

" As soon as the gu^no is ploughed in, the wheat should be sowed and 
harrowed in, in the usual way. In our climate we can sow wheat on 
the poorest corn ground late in November and have as fine a crop, and 
harvest it as soon, as we can obtain from well prepared and fallowed 
without guano sowed early in the season. For every 100 lbs. of guano, 
not exceeding 250 lbs. we calculate on reaping of an average season 
from six to seven bushels, sometimes eight. From a greater quantity 
though the product will be increased, yet it will not be increased in the 
same proportion, and 200 lbs will also be sufficient for the production 
of two good grass crops following the wheat and will then leave the land 
in an improved condition. 

Charcoal and Guano. — The benefit of charcoal with guano will be un- 
derstood from the following extract from "Scientific Agriculture," on 
the nature of charcoal and its use as a manure. — " Charcoal on account 
of its power of absorbing gases and destroying offensive odors, is a valu- 
able addition to the soil; its operation as a manure is not so direct 
as some other manures ; that is, it is not so useful on account of 
any element it furnishes to plants, as by the intermediate office which 
it performs, of absorbing and retaining in the soil those volatile matters 
which planis require, and which would otherwise escape and be lost. 
It is beneficial as a top-dressing, and as an ingredient in composts ; it 
evolves carbonic acid in its decomposition, and is in this way directiv 



60 

useful to plants. Its powerful antiseptic properties render it very use- 
ful to young and tender plants, by keeping the soil free of putrifying 
substances, which would otherwise destroy their spongioles and pre- 
vent their growth." 

And its capacity to absorb many times its bulk of gaseous matter, 
will always give it value as an absorbent of escaping ammonia from sur- 
face dressings of guano. 

The editor of the Farmer also says — "In our climate, we should be 
opposed to all topical applications of any strongly concentrated manure 
like guano by itself, — and, indeed we should, under all circumstances, 
prefer to have it ploughed in, if practicable ; but as we presume our 
correspondent has been prevented by circumstances, from using guano 
at the time of ploughing for wheat; and of course, must avail himself 
of the next best plan of deriving benefit from its use, we would advise, 
him next spring, as soon as the frost is out of the ground, and it is in a 
state to bear a team ; to mix, in the proportion of 100 lbs. of guano, one 
bushel of fine charcoal, and one peck of plaster per acre, then to sow 
the mixture over his wheat field, lightly harrow the ground, and finish 
by rolling; and we have no hesitation in saying, that his wheat crop 
will be benefitted more than twice thd cost of the manure. We say to 
him farther that he need not fear injuring his wheat plants by the ope- 
ration of harrowing and rolling; for, on the contrary, it will act as a 
working, and prove of decided advantage. We feel very certain that 
the admixture of charcoal and plaster with guano, together with the 
covering it will receive by the harrowing, will prevent any material 
loss of the ammoniacal principles of the latter; as independent of the 
affinity existing between charcoal, plaster, and all nitrogeneous bodies, 
they will be greatly aided by the vital principle of the plants them- 
selves. We are not, however, left to the lights of theory alone, in this 
matter, but have the experience of the Honorable Mr. Pearce, of Kent 
county, of this State, to guide us to a practical result, — he used, some 
years since, a top-dressing of guano and plaster upon his wheat field, 
and was rewarded by a large increase of crop." 

A correspondent says — " I am satisfied from experience and observa- 
tion in the use of guano for the last twelve years, that the best method, 
decidedl}^ of applying it to our crops in this dry climate, is to plow and 
spade it into the ground ; and autumn is the best season for doing this, 
as it gives time for the pungent salts contained in the guano to get 
thoroughly mixed with the soil before spring planting. Do not fear to 
lose the guano, by plowing it as deep as you please — it will not run 
away, depend upon it. At the south it loses half its virtue if not plowed 
fn at least three inches deep ; six to twelve inches would be still better. 



61 

Spread broadcast on grass land, late in the fall or early in the spring. 
If not plowed in before sowing buckwheat, rye or wheat, then spread it 
broadcast after sowing the grain, and harrow well and roll the land. 
This last operation is quite important." 

Value of Guano on account of ils Phosphates. — He who wishes to have 
the best grazing grounds, where he can present the richest and most nu- 
tritious herbage to his cattle, will keep his ground well supplied or ma- 
nured with guano that abounds in phosphates, knowing that it will sup- 
ply the needed nutriment to the grass, and by the grass to the cattle ; and 
thus his stock will be kept in a high condition and full flesh, either for 
the farm or the market. 

Again ; he who raises wheat, corn, or other grains, has an equal in- 
ducement to look to it that his manures are abundantly impregnated 
with these essential elements. Phosphates, so available to the raiser of 
stock, are equally so to the producer of grain; because the size, rich- 
ness, aud nutritious qualities of the grain depend largely on the pres- 
ence of these in the soil. A farmer, therefore, has a vital interest in this 
matter, and should obtain what best suits his purpose. The most intel- 
ligent English farmers are so well convinced on this point, that sub- 
stances containing only ten per cent, of phosphate of lime, are sought 
after, dissolved in sulphuric acid and water, and sprinkled on the soil. 
Bone dust also is used, and to a certain extent, is available, because one 
of the principal constituents of bones, is phosphate of lime. But the 
article in which the phosphates are the most convenient, because the 
most minutely distributed, is guano ; and this, when judiciously used, 
must find favor wherever it can be obtained." 

That which contains a large proportion of phosphates, in combination 
with ammonia, nitrogen and alkaline salts, apparently in the exact pro- 
portion required by nature, such as analysis and experience proves is 
the case with Peruvian guano, will be sought after by every farmer who 
reads the evidence of its value which we have given in these pages. 

It is idle to talk of bones to restore the waste of phosphates in the 
soil that is being constantly carried away in grass and grain, beef, 
pork, mutton, milk and cheese, much of which passes into the sea from 
the sewers of cities, to be there retained in that great reservoir for the 
future use of men. It is from that we are now drawing our present sup- 
plies. Happily for mankind in all civilized countries, the discovery of 
guano has, in a providential manner, met the very wants of the times, 
in reference to the reinvigoration of certain kinds of soil, since this ma- 
nure furnishes the elements most needed to supply the waste arising 
from cultivation, and to develope vegetation. 

The imposibility of procuring bones enough to supply the wants of 
the comparative few now engaged in using guano, may be readily learned 



62 

by any farmer who uses ten tons of guano per annum, if he will under- 
take to "pick up bones" enough to furnish him the same amount of 
phosphates contained in that quantity of guano. Then if all who are 
now using it, would drop guano and take to bones, it would soon be 
found to be hard picking. Save all the bones and apply them to the 
soil, is a standing text with us ; upon the same soil use all the guano 
your can procure and you will not need to pick bones — you will grow 
bones to pick. It may be very patriotic to talk about expending the 
money at home, for bones, instead of sending it to Peru, for guano; but 
that talk is all for Buncombe, there is not a particle of sound reason in 
it. If all the bones in the United States could be saved and applied to 
the land again, we should still fall short of a supply, and be obliged to 
do as England did before the introduction of guano ; go about and ran- 
sack grave yards of great battle fields, for more bones. With all the 
guano imported, or that will be imported, and all the bones that will be 
saved, there will still be room for more phosphates in the millions of 
acres of hungry soil in America. What would be the effect if a few 
such farms as Willoughby Newton's, and Col. Carter's, who each use 30 
to 40 tons per annum of guano, should come all at once into the bone , 
market for their supplies. In our opinion there would be such a rat- 
tling among the dry bones, we should hear no more about substituting 
them for guano. The fact is an incontrovertible one, that nothing on 
earth nor under the earth, or in the sea, has ever been discovered, which 
can be used as a substitute for guano. Its small bulk is alone sufficient 
to commend it to favor. 

The Royal Agricultural Society of England offers a prize of £1,000 
and the gold medal of the society, for the discovery of a manure with 
equal fertilizing properties to the guano, of which an unlimited supply 
can be furnished in England, at £5 per ton. 

" Analogy between Bones and Guano. — There is a striking analogy in 
composition between bones and guano, which is, for other reasons in- 
teresting to the practical man. 

The following table exhibits the composition of bones compared with 
guano, supposing both in the dry state. Bones, as they are applied to* 
to the land contain about 18 per cent, of water. Ichabo guano from 20 
to 25 per cent. 

Organic animal matter, 
Phosphates of lime and magnesia, 
Carbonate of lime. 
Salts of soda, 
Salts of potash, 
Silicious matter 

100 100" 



Bones. 
33 


tjfuano. 

56 


59 


26 


4 


6 


4 


10 


trace 


trace 





2 



83 

And these substances are found in guano already in a pulverulent state, 
while bones have to be reduced by mechanical or chemical means to 
the same condition before they are of any use as manure. Do not, \ve 
again repeat most emphatically, do not waste a bone ; dissolve all you 
can get in sulphuric acid and mix with guano — save and make all the 
manure possible, both by the stable, compost heap and green crops, and 
then you will have money to buy guano, by which you can save the 
immense labor of hauling to distant fields, and still have the satisfaction 
of seeing them as fertile as those highly manured near home. 

When the farmer raises crops for sale, and removes his grain and 
grasses from the land, he sells a portion of his soil; and if he does not 
renew in some way the saline matters taken away in his crops, he in- 
variably impoverishes his farm. This work of exhaustion is now going 
on to an alarming extent, and the prolific wheat lands are to be searched 
for farther and farther westward as the operation proceeds. 

Every one knows the superiority of wheat grown on newly cultivated 
lands, and most farmers are aware of the fact that soils become exhaust- 
ed of something, they know not what, but of something essential to the 
most favorable production of grain. This something is found in guano, 
and by it the original fertility of land can be more easily, more cer- 
tainly and cheaply restored than by any other means as yet discovered. 

Professor Mapes in one of his letters of advice says; "As no farm, 
under ordinary usage, will supply as much manure as may be used upon 
it with profit, I am glad you intend to use guano, as it is an admirable 
manure, replete with many requirements of plants. The ammonia of 
the guano is in the form of a carbonate, and therefore so volatile as to 
escape from the soil into the atmosphere before plants can use it. 

You will readily perceive, therefore, that the sulphuric and phospho- 
ric acids require amendments, and the ammonfa should be changed from 
a carbonate to a sulphate of ammonia, which is not volatile. All this 
may be readily done by dissolving bone dust in dilute sulphuric acid, 
mixing it with the guano, and then with a sufficient amount of charcoal 
dust to render the mass dry and pulverulent. The more charcoal dust 
the better, as it absorbs and retains ammonia, and after it is in the soil, 
will continue to perform similar offices for man}'- years, only yielding up 
ammonia as required by plants, and receiving new portions from rains, 
dews, &c." 

If used as a top dressing, this change from a carbonate to a sulphate 
may be necessary; but not so if well mixed with the soil, particularly 
one in which clay predominates. In such a soil it is not even necessary 
to adhere to the direction to plow the guano deeply under. If it is but 
slightly harrowed in, the nature of the clay is such it will prevent the 



64 

escape of the ammonia. If you require phosphates, more than ammo- 
nia, add the superphosphate of lime; but in no case omit the guano. 

Use of Salt with Guano. — Common salt at the rate of a bushel to 100 
lbs. of guano, well mixed, may be used to good advantage either as a 
top dressing, or when plowed in. The effect of the muriatic acid of the 
salt upon the guano will be, as both are dissolved in the earth, or by 
dews and rains, to form muriate of ammonia, which is not volatile; con- 
sequently the salt prevents loss by exhaustion, which is sure to take 
place when the guano is used as a top dressing, unless prevented by 
something to act as a fixer of the ammonia. 

The wisdom of this law of nature in making the most precious saline 
manure a fixed and difficultly soluble salt, is at once obvious; for it is 
thus kept always ready in the soil for the plants to act upon according 
to their need. If we cut plants down before the seeds form, we have all 
the phosphates the plants contain diffused throughout them, and if we 
allow the seed to ripen, the phosphates, as before observed, will be 
found mostly in the seed. We find them in the state of phosphate of 
potash, phosphate of soda, phosphate of magnesia, and phosphate of 
lime, and probably, also, phosphate of ammonia. Now all these salts 
are essential to the growth and sustenance of animals, and withouf 
them grain would cease to be sufficient. 

The necessity of restoring inorganic substances to the soil, may be 
better understood by examining the following table: 

Mr. Prixdeaux states that the following quantities (of inorganic mat- 
ters) are removed from an acre of soil by a crop of wheat, of 26 bushels 
of grain, and 3000 lbs. of straw — 







By 


the grain. 
lbs. 


By 


the straw. 
lbs. 


Total. 
lbs. 


Potash, 






7.15 




22.44 


29.59 


Soda, 






2.73 




0.29 


3.02 


Magnesia, 






3.63 




6.99 


10.62 


Phosphoric acid, 




15.02 




5.54 


20.56 


Sulphuric 


acid, 




0.07 




10.49 


10.56 


Chlorine 






0.00 




1.98 


1.98 



28.60 47.73 

Gross weight to be returned to an acre, 76.33 

Professor Johnson says — " Soils are barren either from the presence 
of a noxious principle or the absence of a necessary element. It is 
therefore highly important to be able to distinguish between the two 
cases. 



65 

" The art of culture is almost entirely a chemical art. Its processes arc 
explained on chemical principals in part, but partly on mechanical and 
natural ones. 

" All forms of matter may be divided into one of the two great groups 
— organic or inorganic matter." 

In Peruvian guano, both these substances exist in a better and cheap- 
er form than can be obtained from any other source. 

The editor of the Genesee farmer, w^hose scientific information none 
can dispute, strongly corroborates this opinion. In a late number he 
says — If we admit that phosphate oflime is a necessary ingredient in a 
special manure for wheat — Peruvian guano would at present be much 
the cheapest source of it ; for, in addition to the 16 per cent, of ammonia, 
it contains 20 per cent, of phosphate oflime in first-rate condition for 
assimilation by the plant, as well as other fertilizing ingredients of mi- 
nor importance. 

As a manure for wheat, therefore, we greatly prefer good Peruvian 
guano, even to the improved superphosphate oflime." 

Difference in favor of Guano over Bone dust. — Robert Monteith, Eng- 
land, dressed oat ground vvith 276 lbs. guano per acre, cost 31 shillings, 
produce 59 bushels, value £7 7s 6d. Same quality of land with 10 
bushels bone dust, cost 23 shillings and fourpence, produced 43 bushels 
value £5 7s 6d, which gives a balance in favor of guano of £l 12s 4d, 
or about $7 50 per acre. 

Difference in favor of Guano over Manure. — The Yorkshire Agricultural 
Society of England, instituted a scries of experiments several years ago 
for the purpose of working out practical facts in relation to guano, 
through a series of crops, upon different soils, by different persons, up- 
on whose report the utmost reliance might be placed, so as to determine 
the value, or advantage to British farmers, who might use this extraor- 
dinary fertilizer. This report has just been published, and the following 
is a synopsis of the results. The experiments were arranged under the 
following heads — 

1. To show the natural produce of the land, one part was to have no 
manure whatever. 

2. Was to have twelve tons per acre of farm-yard dung. 

3. Was to have six tons of dung, and one cvvt. each of guano and dis- 
solved coprolites; and 

4. Was to have two cvvt. of guano and two cwt. of the coprolites. 
Other substances might be tried as additions, but these were to be the 

standard experiments. 

" Mr. Cholmeley's turnips, grown on a loamy soil had the heaviest crop 
on No. 3, the dung, coprolite, and guano, beating the farm-yard manure 
by some 5f tons per acre. 



66 

"Mr. Johnson's experiments were tried with various manures singly ; 
and his Peruvian guano gave the greatest weight of the class of substan- 
ces tried; but 10 cubic yards of farm-yard manure had previovsly been 
applied to the whole land. 

"Mr. Maulevere's heaviest weight, also applied singly, was with 
the 12 tons of dung; but only 14 cwt. more than the dressing with 2 cwt. 
of coprolites. This soil was a light clay. 

" Mr. Nevvham's on a limestone soil, were the heaviest with No. 3 — the 
same as Mr. Cholmeley's — and were 16 cwt. heavier than an application 
of dung alone. 

" Mr. Outhwaite's. on a hungry gravel, were the heaviest, with 9i tons 
of dung and 2 cwt of guano, for all the land had been dunged at this 
rate, and exceeded 14^ tons of dung by 2 tons 9 cwt. per acre. 

Mr. Scott's were the heaviest on No. 4, — the guano and coprolites, and 
1 ton 7 cwt. more than 20 tons of dung, — his soil was a strong loam. 

Mr. Wailes's were the heaviest, with 4 cwt. of coprolites, showing an 
increase over 20 tons of dung of 2 tons 9 cwt. per acre; the soil is a use- 
ful loam. 

" The first fact which strikes the observer, is, that as a general rule, 
there is not only an addition to the crop by the addition of those artifi- 
cial manures, but there is, in some cases, more absolute crop produced 
by them than by farm-yard manure alone. 

. " Now to bring this to the test of figures, the coprolites at £5 per ton, 
and the guano at £lO per ton, will be at the rate of 2 cwt of each, jSl 
lOs per acre. Now assuming this to be equal to 20 tops of dung per 
acre, we should require to be able to produce the dung at Is 6d per ton 
to cost us the same money. But it can be neither produced nor purchased 
at any such money. In the whole of the cases referred to, the manure 
is most costly, and yet we find hardly any case where there is not an 
addition to the crop, of say two to three tons of turnips per acre, by 
such an increase of manure as the guano. Now, if a ton of turnips be 
worth 10s., or even 9s, there is at once an element of repayment; for, if 
a soil be in a condition to give a large crop of turnips, it is almost cer- 
tain to be capable of giving a large crop of any other plant to succeed. 

" Mr. Charnock gives it as the result of his practical experience, that 
4 cwt. of Peruvian guano, without manure, is the cheapest and best mode 
of growing turnips; but the general testimony seems to be decidedly in 
iavor of what all farmers find it the best and easiest to do, viz., to add a 
email quantity of artificial manure to that which the farm will supply, 
and so to spread the whole over the land, rather than put all the dung in 
owe place, and all the artificial manure in another. 

f^o one can doubt the true statement of this report, which proves 
$7c60,worth,of guano equal tjo.20 tons of manure — reducing the worth 



6t 

-- vutti to one shilling and sixpence — about 34 cents — per ton, or one 
dollar a cord. Now, as manure is often estimated in this country by the 
cord, and valued at about $4, and applied at the rate of 6 cords per 
acre, it follows that a saving of $14 50 per acre may be made by using 
250 lbs. of guano instead of purchasing the manure. This Yorkshire 
experiment exactly corresponds with those made in this country, some 
of which we have detailed, and which proves that a farmer cannot buy 
manure at the common selling prices; and if he hauls his own the dis- 
tance of a mile, he will expend more value of time, than it is worth to 
him on the land; because the same value of time — " time is money" — 
expended for guano, will bring him better returns. In this, as before 
stated, we are confirmed by Professor Mapes ; and here is the opinion 
of Mr. Hovey of Boston, the eminent horticulturist, which we find in the 
August No. of his magazine, as follows — 

" If, after such evidence as this, farmers will continue to buy ashes at 
eight cents a bushel, or manure at three to six dollars a cord, including 
carting, and use them alone, then let them do so, but they should not 
complain that their crop cost more than it comes to. To orchardists 
and fruit growers, this information is of the greatest value, and we trust 
they will not let it pass unheeded." 

This opinion is valuable because it has been stoutly asserted, that 
however well guano might answer at the South, it was of no use in the 
hard soil and cold climate of New England. This is a fallacy which 
will soon be cured by knowledge, and self-interest is a very strong 
prompter towards the acqusition of the knowledge, that guano is the 
best, cheapest, most suitable, convenient and productive manure ever 
used by a New England farmer, and just as suitable for that climate and 
soil as it is for Virginia. We assert, without fear of successful contra- 
diction, that there is not a farm — not a field — covered with five-finger 
vines and mullens, in the State of Massachusetts, which may not be 
made to produce as profitable crops, by the use of guano, as any Con- 
necticut river farm. Farmers are about the hardest class of men in the 
world to learn new doctrines ; or that science has anything to do with 
the business of this life, and what all other life in a civilized country is 
dependent upon. Yet science teaches, by unerring truths, that the 
plants the farmer cultivates, are composed of carbon, obtained by plants 
chiefly from the soil and atmosphere; oxygen and hydrogen, obtained 
by plants chiefly from water, carbonic acid, &c. ; nitrogen obtained 
by plants chiefly from manure, and also from rain and snow ; silicium, 
in combination with oxygen, called silicia or sand ; lime in combination 
with phosphoric and other acids ; potash and soda in combination with 
acids ; magnesia, in combination with acids, and various oxides of me- 
tals, the presence of which, however, is not very important, as they ex- 



68 

1st in an exceedingly small quantity. And that guano is composed of ma- 
monia (formed of nitrogen and hydrogen,) combined wilh carbonic, 
oxalic, phosphoric, and other acids; lime, combined with phosphoric 
oxalic, and other acids; potash and soda, combined with muriatic and 
sulphuric acids; magnesia, combined with phosphoric and other acids; 
animal organic matter, containing carbon, and also nitrogen. 

Now, is it not enough to prove that all the ingredients, with the ex- 
ception of the metallic oxides, exist in guano, which are required by the 
plants grown for the sustenance of man. 

Putting guano into the soil, therefore, as a manure, is clearly restoring 
to the earth those substances which plants abstract from it, and which 
are absolutely necessary for their growth. 

The questions, then, which the farmer should now ask are, " which is 
best for me to buy, guano or coarse manure 1" The evidence just given 
answers that question. " f have manure, teams, and men to haul it ; my 
fields are from one to three miles distant, is it economy for me to let my 
teams lay idle and buy guano?" By no means. But you can probably 
employ men and teams in other improvements to much better advantage. 
With your manure make all your home lots exceedingly rich. With your 
men and teams clear off stones, dig ditches to put them into, drain your 
land, or build fence — bring bog meadows and swamps into dry cultiva- 
tion — send every little brook through artificial channels for irrigation — 
send water up from lowland springs and streams by hydraulic rams 
for the same purpose, and for stock on the hills; or bring it down from 
hillsides if you are so situated ; and buy guano for those distant fields, 
instead of wasting time in the laborious operation of hauling manure. 
Those who use guano, are enabled by the saving of time, to say nothing 
of their increased profits, to make improvements which are utterly im- 
possible to accomplish under the old system. 

How to choose Guano. — As we are satisfied no sensible reader can have 
perused the preceding pages, without having come to the determination 
to make a trial for himself, we will give him some general instructions 
about buying guano. 

In the first place, we lay it down as an incontrovertible axiom, tha 
the Peruvian guano, at the current price for years of that and all other 
is the cheapest and best, because it contains the largest amount of am 
monia, in a perfectly dry state ; as a carbonate, true, but because dry, it 
is permanent and not likelytoloose by volatilization by long keeping. 

If other varieties contain a larger proportion of phosphates, and ar« 
sold at a less price, experience proves they are not cheaper. If an ad- 
ditional quantity of phosphates is desirable, it can be obtained in a 
cheaper form from dissolved bones, or bone dust and shavings of bone 
jvorkers; or from mineral phosphates of lime. Recollect, guano under 



no other name, has ever equalled the Peruvian, in the results as com- 
pared with the quality or cost. 

Therefore buy none but Peruvian. To guard against deception, be 
careful of whom you buy. If you cannot buy directly from the agents, 
De sure the character of your merchant is a sufficient guarantee against 
adulteration. 

To test the quality of Guano. — The best test is the price. Unlike other 
merchandise, this article is not subject to fluctuations. Being a govern- 
ment monopoly, the price at which the agents are to sell here is fixed 
in Peru, and that price may be easily known; therefore, if any dealer 
offers you Peruvian guano at "a reduced price," you may be sure the 
quality is reduced also. Remember, tha, the lowest price by the ship 
load, it can be procured for of the agents in Baltmiore or New York is 
$46 per ton of 2240 lbs. To this, every fair, honest dealer, must add 
freight, insurance and profit. Every man who sells without such addi- 
tion, you may be .sure will make his profit by short weight or adultera- 
tion. 

The next best test is its appearance. Good Peruvian guano is an im- 
palpable powder, perfectly dry to the touch, of a unitbrm brownish yel- 
low color, with a strong smell, like that of spirits of hartshorn, contained 
in ammoniacal smelling bottles. But the smell is no test; that which 
smells strongest may be worst, as the ammonia may be disengaged by 
moisture or by the addition of lime or salt. 

The adulteration of guano is carried to a great extent m England, and 
probably will be in this country. The principal adulterations are 
made by the addition of loam, marl, sand, plaster, old lime, ashes, chalk, 
salt, moisture, and by mixture with other guano of a cheaper quality. 
The farmer need not depend upon the assertion, "this is a genuine arti- 
cle — here is the inspector's certificate." We would not give a straw for 
a corn basket full of certificates of analysis. The buyer must analyse 
for himself. Mr. Nesbit, analytical chemist, London, has just published 
a pamphlet from which we have condensed some very plain, short, sim- 
ple rules for testing the quality of guano. As the adulterating substances 
are generally heavier than the guano, they m:iy be detected by a com- 
parison of weight and measure. To do this, get a small glass tube 
closed at one end, and weigh accurately an ounce of pure guano, put it 
in the tube and carefully mark the hight it fills — try several samples — 
if there is any difference, mark it. Now weigh an ounce from a sam- 
ple adulterated with one fourth its bulk of any or all the preceding list 
of articles used for that purpose, and you will find the difference of bulk 
between that and the genuine, very perceptible. 

Test by Burning. — Guano burnt to ashes at a red heat will leave an ash 
of a pearly white appearance, not varying in weight from 30 to 35 poi 



to 

cent, of the quantity burnt. If it is adulterated with marl, sand, clay, 
&.C., the ash will be about 60 or 65 per cent, of the weight tested, and 
be colored with the iron always present in the adulterating substances, 
and which is never found in pure guano. This test, to be accurate, must 
be done with a nice pair of scales and a platinum cup, which may be 
heated over a spirit lamp. Ten grains of the guano are placed in the 
platinum cup, which is held by the tongs in the flame of the spirit lamp 
for several minutes, until the greater part of the organic matter is burnt 
away. It is allowed to cool for a short time, and a few drops of a strong 
solution of nitrate of ammonia added, to assist in consuming the carbon 
in the residue. The cup is again heated, (taking care to prevent its 
boiling over, or losing any of the ash,) until the moisture is quite evap- 
orated. A full red heat must then be given it, when, if the guano be 
pure, the ash will be pearly white, and will not exceed 3J^ grains in 
weight. If adulterated with sand, marl, &c., the ash will always be 
colored, and will weigh more than 3^ grains. Even the simple burning 
of a few grains of guano, on a red hot shovel, will often indicate by the 
color whether a fraud has been committed ; but we cannot particularly 
recommend this method, as the iron of the shovel itself will sometimes 
give a tinge to the ash. This might be obviated by burning the sample 
on a common earthen plate. 

If the adulteration of guano has been made by sand, it can be de- 
tected by dissolving the ashes in muriatic acid. The sand will remain 
— if it is more than one per cent., it has probably been added fraudu- 
lently. As iron exists in loam, it will show in the color of the ash if 
that is the substance used for adulteration. If lime has been added, it 
can be detected by dissolving the ash in muriatic acid and separating 
the sand, loam and iron, if present, by filtration, and then adding oxalate 
of ammonia to the liquid. If it shows more than a mere trace of lime, 
it has been falsified. 

Test by salt. — Saturate a quart of water and strain it; pour some in a 
saucer and sprinkle guano upon the surface. Good guano sinks im- 
mediately, leaving only a slight scum. If it has been adulterated by 
any light or flocculent matters, they will be seen upon the surface- of the 
brine. 

Test by Acid. — Put a teaspoonful of guano in a wine glass and add a 
little vinegar or dilute muriatic acid. If ground limestone or chalk have 
been added, the eflfervessence will show it. A genuine article will only 
show a few bubbles. 

Test by Water. — The following simple plan will easily detect all the 
ordinary adulterations of guano. Procure a wide mouthed bottle, with 
solid glass stopper ; fill with water and insert the stopper ; let the ex- 
terior be well dried. In one pan of accurate scales, place the bottle; 



71 

counterpoise by shot, sand or gravel. Pour out two thirds of the water, 
and put in four ounces avoirdupois of guano. Agitate the bottle, add 
more water ; let it rest a couple of minutes, and fill with water, so the 
froth all escapes ; insert the stopper, wipe dry, and replace the bottle 
in the scale. Add now to the counterpoised scale, one and a half ounces 
avoirdupois, and a fourpenny piece ; if the bottle prove the heavier, the 
the guano is, in all probability, adulterated. Add in addition a three- 
penny piece, and if the bottle is still heaviest the guano is undoubtedly 
adulterated. By this simple experiment, a very small amount of sand, 
marl, &.c., is detected. 

If farmers will not use some of these simple tests, or employ a chem- 
ist to detect suspected adulteration ; or if they will buy guano of men 
who have no character to lose, and who offer to sell below a price to 
afford them a living profit, they cannot be pitied if they are cheated. 

Prepared Guano. — Never buy anything bearing that name, unless you 
wish to verify the adage of" the fool and his money are soon parted." 

Analysis of Prepared Guano. We give an analysis of one sample of do- 
mestic manufacture, and two British. No. 1. was offered in London and 
actually sold as Peruvian guano, to farmers in the south of England ; 
just because they were so neglectful of their own interests as not to in- 
form themselves that an article sold for $35 a ton, could not be genuine, 
while the regular government price remained fixed at $47. It ma}' 
readily be seen by the analysis, how they were cheated into paying 
that price for an article of which 74 per cent, is plaster, and only half 
of one per cent, ammonia. 

No. 1. Gypsum, 74.05 

Phosphate of lime, 14.05 

Sand, 2.64 

Moisture and loss, 9.26 

100.00 



Ammonia, 051 

The other sample is still worse. This was sold as Saldanhah Bay 

guano, at $15 to $20 a ton. It was composed of 

Sand, 48.81 

Phosphate of lime, 10.21 

Gypsum, 5.81 

Chalk, 22.73 

Moisture, 12.44 



Ammonia, 



72 

It would have been dear at half the price. But why ? perhaps you 
inquire, do you give these Famples of rascality in England ? Just to 
show you what men are capable of doing there, they will probably do 
here — nay, have done. Here is the analysis of an article which was 
sold in the city of New York, under the name of prepared guano. The 
analysis was made by the lately deceased, highly respected, and emi- 
nent analytic chemist. Professor Norton, of Yale College, showing the 
following result. 

Water, 4.36 

Alumina and phosphate of lime, 7.82 

Organic matter, 32.68 

Insoluble matter, 26.06 

Carbonate of lime, 28.76 

Magnesia, alkalies, and loss, 0.43 

100.00 
This analysis was made by the request of the editor of the Genesee 
Farmer, by whom it is not only endorsed, but proof given of its utter 
worthlessness upon the land where it was applied. Professor Norton 
made the following remarks upon the subject. 

"This is indeed a prepared article. You will observe that three tenths 
of the whole are water, or matter insoluble in acid, or nothing more 
than water and sand. More than another three tenths is organic matter; 
this contains scarcely a trace of ammonia or nitrogen in any form, be- 
ing worth no more than common muck from a swamp. Thus we have 
six tenths of the guano made up of a mixture that as a gift, would not 
be worth carting. Nearly another three tenths is carbonate of lime, a 
valuable article it is true, but one which can be bought far more cheaply 
by the barrel, bushel or ton, than as guano. The remaining tenth con- 
tains a small quantity of phosphates, but not enough to make the mi.\. 
ture of much value. The parties engaged in this manufacture, should 
be widely exposed, for it is one of the most outrageous impositions I 
have ever known. Farmers should avoid everything of this nature un- 
less it. is certified to be equal to a copy of analysis shown. This stuff 
is not worth transporting any distance for your land. J. P. Norton." 

We will now give the analysis of Peruvian, Patagonian, and Chilian 
guano, as determined by Dr. Anderson, chemist of the Royal Agricultur- 
al Society of Scotland, to be a fair average deduced, from a careful ex- 
amination of many samples. The same results have been obtained in 
this country by such eminent chemists as Professor Norton, Dr. Antisell, 
and Dr. Higgins. We only give analysis of these three kinds, for the 
reason, no other of any consequence is now offered for sale in this 
country. 



73 



ANALYSIS OF GUANO. 







Peruvian. 


Chilian Fine. 


Chilian Inferior. 


PaUngonian. 


Water, 




13.73 


6.06 


15.09 


24.86 


Organic matter and 


\ 










annmonical salts, 


53.16 


54.61 


12.88 


18.86 


Phosphates 




23.48 


11.96 


16.44 


41 37 


Lime, 






1.37 


S.93 


2.94 


Sulphuric acid, 








— 


2.21 


Alkaline salts, 




7.97 


10.25 


604 


2.'-0 


Sand, 




1.66 


15.86 


40.62 


7.66 



100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 

Ammonia, 1700 18.80 2,11 2.69 

It will readily be seen there is a vast difference in the value of the 
Chilian, and though not stated, there is as great a difference in the Pata- 
gonian, while that from Peru, owing to the fact that it never rains upon 
the depository, is of a uniform quality. As the principal value of guano 
consists of the ammonia and phosphates, it is easily calculated. 

17 per cent, of ammonia is equal to 340 lbs. in a ton of 2,000 at 12^ 
cents, * $42 50 

23.48 per cent, of phosphates is equal to 470 lbs. in a ton at 
li cents, 7.05 

Alkaline salts, 6.00 



Value of a ton of Peruvian guano, $64.55 

To this may be added the advantage of having these valuable sub 
stances in the best possible condition, so finely pulverized they are 
ready prepared for the use of plants. 

It may be taken as an incontrovertible fact then, that guano is a cheap 
and good manure for any land and any crop which would be benefitted 
by the best quality of farm yard manure and ground bones. It is most 
beneficial on poor sandy loam, absolutely unproductive; and most pro- 
fitable when applied to any land which cannot be otherwise manured 
on account of distance and transportation of grosser articles. The better 
the land is kept in tilth, the better will be the effect of an application 
of guano. The public may also be assured of another fact ; if the guano 
is bought dii'ect from the agents of the Peruvian government in this 
country, or of reliable merchants, who get their supplies direct from 
them, it will be of a uniform quality and value, as indicated by the anal- 
ysis just given. 

They may also rest assured, and the author of this pamphlet believes 
his reputation will warrant the assertion and belief, that he could not be 



74 

hired to pufFan unworthy article, or write a book to induce American 
farmers, to purchase an article which would not prove highly benefici- 
al to their best interests. 

The author does know that the introduction of guano into this country 
is a blessing to the nation. Its general use will not only increase the 
wealth of individuals, but that of the body politic. Let us illustrate this 
point by a statement of an English writer of its advantages to that 
country. He says — " The importance of this question may be easily il- 
lustrated. We grow in this country about 4,000,000 acres of wheat an- 
nually. An application of two hundred weight of guano to each acre 
would increase the produce by six bushels, or raise the average of Eng- 
land from 26 to 32 bushels an acre, giving a total increase to our home 
produce of 3,000,000 quarters of wheat, which is of itself equivalent to 
a larger sum than the whole diminution of rent stated by the Chancellor 
of the Exchequer to have been occasioned by free trade in corn. But 
this is only one use to which guano would be applied, for its effects are 
even more valuable to green crops than to corn." 

The proportionate advantage to this country would be almost incon- 
ceivably greater as our average product is far less, and the increased 
number of bushels per acre, far more ; the produce of land as stated 
by Mr. Newton and others, having been raised from 3 to 15 or 20 bush- 
els per acre. 

The estimation in which it is held by some of the best farmers in the 
world may be judged by the increased demand in England. 

The quantity of Peruvian guano annually imported has risen from 
22,000 tons in 1846 to 95,000 tons in 1850, but has increased during the 
last year to about 200,000 tons. If the price were reduced by £2 to £3 
a ton, even the present large supply would be found greatly short of 
the increased demand. In a single season, in 1845, when the price of 
Ichaboe guano ranged from 6£ to 7£ a-ton, the importation with an 
open trade rose to 220,000 tons. A reduction of 2£ to 3£ a ton would 
be followed by an extraordinarily increased consumption. Twice the 
present importation might be taken advantageously for the wheat crops 
alone. It seems to be held by the Government that the right of Peru to 
the Lobos Islands is unquestionable. It is, in that case, only by friend- 
ly negotiation that anything can be done. Considerations should be 
pressed on the present Ministry, pledged as they are to promote the 
landed and shipping interests. If they can persuade the Peruvian Gov- 
ernment, by friendly negotiation, that the interests of that country as 
well as ours will be benefited by opening the guano trade, they will confer 
an important service on this country; a full supply would contribute 
materially to restore the prosperity of the landed interest by increasing 



7b 

their produce at diminished cost; and it would give regular employmen. 
to about one-tenth of the whole mercantile navy of England. 

Undoubtedly! an increased supply, or rather an increased consump- 
tion, would tend materially to restore, in England and in America, 
to build up the landed interest, by increasing the product of the land 
at diminished cost. If farmers could buy guano at lower prices, it is 
argued all would use it. Undoubtedly again! Because their profits 
would be greater. So great in fact, the temptation to make money out 
of the purchase and use of guano few could withstand "such a chance 
for a speculation." 

But as they cannot induce the Peruvians to let them have it at a lower 
price, and as they can make money out of it at the present price, is it 
not a suicidical measure upon the part of the owners of unprofitable 
land, to refuse to use guano, because they cannot get it at their own 
price, while they can certainly profit by its use at present prices. 

The Guano Monopoly. — Much prejudice has been excited against the 
agents and principal dealers in this country by the cry of monopoly. 
Are those who cry wolflhe loudest, entirely clear themselves, of a fond- 
ness for fat mutton ? The following extract from a letter of Edward 
Stabler of Maryland, gives a more fair, impartial view of the subject. 
He says; "Odious and grinding as monopolies usually become, and 
hard as this one seems to bear upon the agriculturist's interests, it still 
appears to be about as fair as ordinary mercantile transactions. The 
Peruvians may be considered the producers, and like our farmers and 
planters, may at times require advances from the commission merchant; 
and in proportion to the prices obtained, are his profits increased ; nor 
does any one censure the merchant for selling at the highest price he 
can. Dealers, or speculators, if you please, are always censured for 
raising the price of guano. Is not the same thing done every day, and 
every hour in the day, by the purchase and sale of flour, wheat, corn, 
and tobacco — and is not the price of almost every article of commerce 
regulated in a great degree by the supply and demand ? Most certainly; 
and so long as there is a probability of profit by the purchase and sale 
of this article, and just so long, and no longer, will the ' trade in second 
hands' continue. If the present supply is inadequate to the demand, by 
an almost undeviating rule in commerce, the price is enhanced, until at 
a point to drive the consumer from the market. This however, is not 
quite so soon attained with gnano, under the present excitement, a? 
with many other things. I have viewed this matter in a different light 
from some others, though erroneous as some may suppose, and do not 
think that censuring the dealers will cover the true ground of com 
plaint, or at all tend to remove the existing difficulty. Their agency 
is, if I may use the term — but In no offensive sense — a kind of neces 



76 

sary evil ; for the importer will not retail, and it suits but few of the 
consumers comparatively, to club together, and purchase in large quan- 
tities. The price of guano is owing mainly, if not entirely, to this mo- 
nopoly in the import trade; and it would be the same thing, and a mo- 
nopoly still, whether in the hands of English or American merchants, 
with also, about the same amount of liberality to be looked for, from 
one as from the other." 

Is there anything so unfair in this, that we should cry out " wicked 
monopoly." The Peruvian government, after the revolution, finds itself 
deeply in debt, and greatly in want of money, and in possession of one 
of the most valuable fertilizing substances in the world, which the peo- 
ple of other governments are in want of, or rather, may profit by the 
use of, which she offers to sell at what she deems a fair price; and for 
the purpose of enabling her to borrow money for immediate necessities, 
as well as to pay the war debt, she has given some of her citizens — rich 
merchants, who can advance money, certain privileges and advan- 
tages in the guano trade, upon condition that they will send a supply to 
all the countries where it can be sold, and in as great quantities as they 
will buy at fixed prices. This is the monopoly. A parallel case can be 
found nearer home. The government of the United States, also incur- 
red a revolutionary war debt, and also came in possession of an article 
which the people of all other countries want, and unlike that possessed 
by Peru, an article which they must have. Upon this necessity of life, 
our government has fixed a price, which any one may pay or let it 
alone — buy or not, just as he pleases. The government will neither 
sell to citizens or strangers at half price, nor let them have the use of 
it without pay; in fact, will not let us carry away anything of value 
from this property, although it might not materially injure the sale of 
the principal and most valuable portion, which is immovable. Such is 
the "guano monopoly" of one government, and such is the "land mo- 
nopoly" of the other. Which is most wicked? 

Of the right of each government, no honest man will dispute. That 
Peru has as much right to the guano upon her desert islands, as the 
United States has to the live oak timber in the deserts of Florida ; or as 
England has to the codfish in the waters of Newfoundland, seems tc 
be as clear as any right ever exercised by any power on earth. Eacn 
protect their own by hired agents, so far as they are able, to prevent 
dishonest men from carrying away that which each considers valuable. 

If English and United States citizens have a right to go and seize up- 
on the guano and bring it off in defiance of Peru, because the guano 
islands are not inhabited, then have we a right to seize all the codfish 
in the wa'ers of the sea, because nobody lives there — they cannot live 
there — they only live on the lands adjacent, and therefore have no right 



77 

to anything except what they stand upon. Then by the same rule may 
the lands of the United States be seized upon, because they are unoc- 
cupied. 

By virtue of decrees now in force, no vessel, either under the na- 
tional or any foreign flag, has a right to go to the Peruvian guano de- 
posits, without first obtaining permission from the Peruvian Government 
under penalty of confiscation. 

Foreign vessels, furnished with government licences, are allowed to 
load at the Chinche Islands only. 

Finally, an)"^ attempt to load vessels without the proper licences, 
would subject them to be seized by the Government vessels appointed 
to cruise off, and visit the different guano deposits, in order to prevent 
not only the illegal extraction of guano by foreign trading vessels, but 
also to prevent the natives of Peru from violating the Government or- 
ders against visiting those localities, and destroying or disturbing the 
birds." 

Notwithstanding this cuts off the free trade in the article, it goes to 
show what we have always endeavored to impress upon the minds of 
American farmers, that the supply is inexhaustible — at least in this age 
and generation — and as every one grows wiser and wiser, it is probable 
the next will have no occasion to use such an old fashioned article as 
bird dung for manure. During the present, however, our advice is to 
every person occupying land which needs something to improve its fer- 
tility, to use guano — genuine Peruvian guano — purchased of reliable 
merchants — and the fewer the better between the importer and con- 
sumer. 

7Vi<? Quantity inexhaustible. — By those surveys, the quantity was ascer- 
tained to be upwards of twenty millions of tons. As this must appear 
so enormous as to be almost incredible, we present the annexed cut, 
supposed to represent a vertical section of one of the Chincha islands 
and the depth of the deposit according to the government surveys. The 
paralel lines at the bottom represent the level of the water — the crooksd 
line above, the surface of the rock ; its position having been ascertained 
by boring and observations of the surveyors. The rounded line is the 
surface of the island as it now appears; all between that and the rock 
being guano. The almost perpendicular line at the left hand, 100 feet high, 
is the rock at which ships lay to take in cargo. The space under the 
dotted line show a comparison of the quantity taken away, as it relates 
to the whole upon the island. The well hole represented in that sec 
tion was dug some fifty feet deep to prove the guano was of equal qual 
ity at the bottom. 

The Chincha Islands are three in number ; no remote from each othei 
or differing very materially in size or general feature. The Geological 



78 

formation presents the appearance of masses of rock jutting out above 
the surface of the ocean — and occasionally rising nearly perpendicular- 
ly to a height of from 60 to 100 feet. At a distance, the islands present 
to the eye a somwhat conical form; owing probably to the greater de- 
posites of guano in the centre ; and all appear equally rich in quantity 
and quality. 

The " North Island" is estimated to be about 300 feet at its greatest ele- 
vation ; It is about li miles in length, and from -J- to f of a mile average 
width. In sailing round them, the guano appears to many places to ex- 
tend to the water's edge. 




Sectional View of the North Chincha Island. 

All the guano islands are uninhabited, except by the laborers, mostly 
Indians or poor Chinamen, who are employed in the work of digging, 
carrying and loading the guano into the ships. When a vessel is ready 
to take in cargo, she is moored alongside of the rocks almost mast head 
high, from the top of which the guano is sent down through a canvass 
shutedirectly into the hold of the ship. Thus several hundred tons can 
be put on board in a day. The trimming of the cargo is a very unplea- 
sant part of the labor. The dust and odor is almost overpowering; so 
the men are obliged to come often on deck for fresh air. The rule is to 
remain below as long as a candle will burn ; when that goes out, the 
air is considered unfit for respiration. If the labor had to be performed 
by a Yankee, he would think it unfit at first; and thereupon set his ready 
wit at work to construct a machine to spread the guano as it fell, from 
one end of the hold to the other. The guano in position upon the island, 
is so compact it has to be dug up with picks. It is then carried to a 
contrivance made of cane, at the edge of the rock, which conveys it into 
the canvass conductors. The mass is cut down in steps, receding and 
rising from the point of commencement, and has not yet attained a depth 
of 100 feet, and with all the labor of hundreds of men digging, and nu 
merous ships carrying away to the several countries using it, there is 
but a bare beginning of removal made upon the mass upon one island 
only, as mav be seen by reference to the diagram. 



99 

Supposing like many others, the supply of Peruvian guano was like 
the Ichaboe, destined to run out — that is all be dug up and carried away ; 
we inquired of an intelligent captain of a ship just returned with a load, 
how long it would be before the supply would be exhausted. " Ex- 
hausted !" said he, with a look over the gangway, as much as to say 
how long would it take to exhaust the ocean with a pint cup ; " why not 
in one hundred yeacs, if every ship afloat should go into the trade, and 
load and unload as fast as it would be possible to perform the labor; 
no, not from the Chincha islands alone. Exhausted ! they never will be 
exhausted." With due allowance for the captain's enthusiam, we may 
be very certain from the government surveys, the quantity is so great, 
that no probability exists of the supply being exhausted until all the 
present inhabitants of this earth have ceased to move upon its surface. 
We may be certain of another fact; that unless we commit a great na- 
tional wrong upon Peru, by seizing upoo some of her guano territory ; 
a thing which the sober second thought of this nation will never sanc- 
tion; we shall not be able to obtain the article only through her govern- 
ment agents, at such prices as her rulers thmk proper to affix to it. 
While the demand and the result of the use of guano continues as at 
present, there is not much probability of any material change. 

The Peruvian Government are, of course, anxious to sell all that the 
world want, and are willing to pay for at remunerating prices. The 
Peruvian minister, in reply to the Secretary of State at Washington 
says: — "The Peruvian Government, in leasing out its rights and inter- 
ests, as a proprietor of the article, adopted the only system that was 
suppo.sed likely to create a demand for guano; while, on the other side, 
it was bound to leave the consignment as security, in the hands of those 
persons who had hazarded their capital in meeting the heavy expenses 
attending the process of freighting, and in making the advances which 
were required to facilitate the exportation and construct the depots. Far 
from establishing a .selfish monopoly, which would have proved injurious 
to its own interests, orfix a high, deliberate, and conventional price upon 
the article, it has only aimed to secure a net profit, reduced to the low- 
est possible .standard, exceeding very little the actual amount of expens- 
es ; and there have been accounts of sales rendered exhibiting both lo.ss 
and damage. 

"The guano, therefore, is not monopolized; the government as the 
proprietor, has forwarded it, on its own responsibility, to those market* 
where it was in demand; selecting as consignees, as it was natural 
and proper it should do, those persons or houses who have advanced 
the capital necessary to defray the expenses; and, as the.se are much 
greater in all cases of remittances to England, and it follows that the 
sale of the article in this country is at the rate of ten pounds sterling 



80 

per ton, the net profit has been less than what is realized in the United 
States, where the fixrmers obtain it at lesser prices. Nor has my gov- 
ernment imposed any restrictions, duties, or determinate value on the 
exportation of guano, although it might and could do so with perfect 
propriety ; because such action would have militated to the detriment 
of its own interests as the proprietor of the article. Its object has.been 
to send it to those markets where it was in demand ; because, as it had 
not yet become an object of decided and positive interest to the consum- 
ing world, and there being no certainty of its attaining saleable prices, 
to create a market as it was impossible for individuals to send to Peru for 
supplies, with any prospect of even moderate profit." 

This is a fair statement of the case; and ought to be perfectly satis- 
factory to the consumers. The disposition of some men to create pre- 
iudice against the government of Peru, or the agents who sell guano in 
this country, because the prioe is too high, is a wicked one. Men can 
make money by purchasing at the present prices; and the owners of 
the article think they cannot make it by selling at a lower price. We 
have heard it urged as a reason why it should be sold at lower prices, 
that the agents and merchants engaged in its sale are making fortunes. 
So are flour merchants — so are farmers who grow the wheat — but that 
is no reason why it should be sold lower. 

With all our heart, we wish the Peruvians would give us guano at 
half price ; but because they will not, there is no reason why the people 
of this country should refuse to use an article which will most assured- 
ly make them grow rich faster than those who are engaged in selling it. 

WHAT IS GUANO?— ITS HISTORY AND LOCALITY.— AMOUNT AND VALUE. 

Guano is the concentrated essence of fish-eating birds excrements. It, 
is found in the condition of a dry powder, of a brownish yellow color, 
not unlike in appearance to Scotch snuff; with a pungent strong smell 
of ammonia, distinguishing it from any other substance. It is found in 
various parts of the world, upon desert headlands and islands of the At- 
lantic and Pacific Oceans, where the birds have had undisputed possess- 
ion for countless ages of time. The island of Ichaboe, on the Coast of 
Africa, furnished a good many cargoes, a few years since, most of which 
were taken to England ; a small supply was imported into the United 
States, and sold and known as African guano. The quality was fair 
The deposit upon that island is quite e.xhausted — in fact it was all car- 
ried away within a few months after it became generally known — some 
of the last cargoes being of little more value than rich earth. It is said 
that a new deposit, which is nothing more than dry bird dung, has already 
oeen gathered and taken to England. No doubt cargoes of similar ma 



81 

nure might be gathered from the Florida keys ; and although it would 
be a valuable manure, it is not guano — that is formed by the chemical 
action of a dry atmosphere, during time's long ages. 

Anagamos Guano. — This is also of a character similar to " new Icha- 
boe." It is rich in ammonia, but contains no lime or sulphuric acid, and 
less phosphates and alkaline substances than Peruvian, and more sand. 
The supply of this must be very limited, as it is a recent deposit and has 
to be gathered by hand from the rocks. 

Bolivian Guano. — This as its name indicates, is from the coast of Boll- 
via, on the west side of South America. It was thought at one time to 
be fully equal in value to Peruvian, but some subsequent importations 
of almost worthless cargoes, have proved the deposit to be very variable 
in quality, or else purposely adulterated, which has had the effect to de- 
stroy confidence in all bearing that name. The belief of the writer is, 
that it was not adulterated, but owing to the fact that it is found in a 
latitude where it does sometimes rain, or where it is liable to be drench- 
ed by sea spray, that portions of it are injured in that way ; so that a 
ship may have one portion of her cargo of the best kind, while the re- 
remainder is hardly worth the freight. The deposit is not large. 

Chilian Guano. — The most of that imported into this country under 
this name, has been of a very inferior quality, and having been recom- 
mended by those interested in its sale, as having come from the same 
coast as that of Peru, and of equal value, and proving almost worthless, 
has deterred many from making another trial. Although there is a small 
supply of Chilian Guano, which is gathered from the rocks in pale yel- 
low masses, some of which has been sent lo England and this country, 
which is equal to any ever discovered in any part of the world, yet the 
great bulk of the deposit is so inferior that Chilian guano will never 
meet with universal favor. In fact, some of the stuff which has been 
sold under that name, is unworthy to be called guano. 

Patagonian Guanc. — Of this kind, larger quantities have been imported 
than any other beside Peruvian; and it has generally been sold at high- 
er prices than its value as a fertilizer would warrant. Owing to the 
fact of its being deposited in a latitude of sunshine and showers, both 
of the utmost intensity ; it never comprises the valuable qualities always 
found in that where rain never was known to fall. Besides the deterior- 
ation of the elements, samples of some cargoes of this guano have been 
found to contain upwards of 30 per cent of sand — in one case 38 per 
cent. It is said, however, that some of the deposits contain considerable 
quantities of crystalized salts of ammonia, magnesian phosphates, rich 
in ammonia, buf which have been rejected by masters of vesst^ls taking 
in cargoes, under the supposition of its being sea salt and calculated to 
injure the sale and value ef the guano. It is believed that there is a 



t 82 

a larger supply of this than any other guano, except Peruvian, but as 
no certain reliance can be placed upon its quality or value, it never will 
be extensively imported into the United States. 

Saldana Bay Guano. — Considerable quantities of guano under this 
name have been taken to England, and upon land and crops requiring 
phosphates more than ammonia, has been pronounced a superior arti- 
cle. But the fact is, it is found in a climate similar to the Patagonian, 
and, consequently, like that, must have a great portion of its ammonia 
washed out, leaving almost its only value as fertilizer, in its phosphates; 
which undoubtedly exist in large proportions, but not as cheap as may 
be procured from other sources. The foregoing comprises all the kinds 
of guano known in commerce, except the Peruvian, to which we shall 
devote an entire chapter. 

PERUVIAN GUANO— ITS LOCATION— OWNERSHIP— QUANTITY— VALUE -- 
HOW PROCURED. 

This is not only the most valuable, but is found in the largest quan- 
tities of any other guano known. That which has been sent to this 
country and England, in such quantities within the last ten years, was 
taken from the Chincha Islands, which are situated between latitude 13° 
and 14°, and at about twelve miles from the coast of Peru, in the bay 
of Pisco. The great value of the Peruvian guano, arises from the fact, 
{hat rain never falls upon the islands where guano is found. The air is al- 
ways dry, and the sun shines with intense power, sufficient to evaporate 
all the juices from flesh, so that meat can be preserved sweet without 
salt. The waters surrounding these islands may be said to be literally 
alive, so full are they of fish. Almost as numerous as the fish, are the 
birds which satisfy their voracious appetites upon this finny multitude, 
until they can gorge no more, when they retire to the islands to deposit 
their excrement, composed of the oily flesh and bones of their only food, 
until the mass which has been accumulating for thousands of years, is 
so great as almost to exceed human belief. 

Humbolt, in his history of South America, states, some of these de- 
posits are 60 or 60 feet thick. Many have thought this the "romance 
of history," but the actual surveys made by the Peruvian government 
five or six years ago, have proved that the guano in many places is more 
than twice that depth; and as there is good reason to believe, and as 
may be seen by the diagram on page 79, it is probably 300 feet thick in 
some of the depressions of the natural surface. And this has been ac- 
cumulated by an annual aggregation, so slow as to be scarcely visible 
from year to year, until the quantity now exeeds 20,000,000 of tons. 

As before stated, the Chincha islands are three in number ; the Lobos 
islands two; these are situated off the north part of the coast of Peru. 



83 

If the right of Peru to the guano is to be disputed, let it be done 
by national vessels and not by armed privateers. If farmers are con- 
vinced that we have made true statements of the value of guano in re- 
novating the poor and worn out fields of America, let them purchase at 
once. The only question to ask is not whether we can go to the Lobos 
Islands to get guano — nor whether it would be better to buy it of gov- 
ernment agents, or speculators on private account, but 

DOES GUANO PAT ? 

Because, if it does pay, that is, if the farmer can buy guano at present 
prices, and realise an increase of crops more than enough to pay the ex- 
pense, it does pay. We think we have shown this fact by incontrover- 
tible evidence. If the first crop pays for the guano and no more, the 
farmer has a certain profit in the improved condition of the land. If the 
first crop does not pay, the land will be enough better to pay cost. 
Upon this point, Mr. Mechi, of England, v/hose name has beco.-ne world 
wide known as an improver of the soil, says; '-Whether guano will 
pay, depends upon the condition of the soil. On poor exhausted soil 
it is a ready and cheap mode of restoring fertility. I used it extensively 
when I first began farming, and when applied to the grain crops at the 
rate of two to three cwt. per acre, it paid well ; but now it has lost favor 
with my bailiff, which is easily accounted for ; my land being at present 
so well filled with manure, nitrogen or ammonia, that we can grow am- 
ple crops without it. When the land only yielded two to two and a half 
quarters of wheat per acre, it was grateful for guano ; but now, with a 
produce of five quarters, there is no necessity for its use. Or rather, the 
increased supply of farm manure supplies that necessity." 

This is exactly what we have aimed to impress upon our readers : 
that it will pay in the crop to which it is applied — it will more than pay 
in the soil, because it will bring it into a condition of permanent fertility. 
It will pay best upon the poorest soil ; because that which was abso- 
lutely barren, becomes fruitful as soon as dressed with guano. It will 
always pay whenever and wherever applied to any soil in a fit condi- 
tion to be benefitted by manure. It will make not only the soil rich, 
but whoever uses it to any considerable extent. It will pay best when 
used in the condition in which you buy it, with no additional labor or 
expense except breaking the lumps. If it is sown broadcast, not to ex- 
ceed 400 lbs. per acre, and plowed in so deep it will not be disturbed by 
any subsequent cultivation of the crop to which it is applied, it will 
most certainly pay in that crop or the succeeding one. It will pay 
upon all plants to which it has ever been applied. Notwithstand- 
ing it will pay best in the soil, it will pay well on it as a top dressing, 



84 

if combined with absorbents of ammonia as directed in these pages.* 
That it has paid in ninety nine cuses out of every hundred where it has 
been used, the author is well convinced, and equally well convinced 
that many may profit by reading what he has here said upon the subject, 
and with that feeling, these pages are commended to all the cultivators 
of American soil. 

* Upon thia point, Bee Mr. Borgwyn'a letter in the appendix. 



APPE N Dl X 



SUOCESSFTTL EXPERIMENTS WITH GUANO ON LONG ISLAND. 

Since the body of this work was in type, the following letters have 
been placed in our hands. They contain so much valuable information 
we are induced to append them. It will be seen by the dates, that they 
give the results of the most recent experiments. The names of the 
writers will be recognized as those of reliable, practical men. 

Letter from Seth Chapman Esq., of Jamaica. — 700 lbs. of guano to the 
acre, profitable — Lasting benefits of one application — Advantage 
of top dressing grass lands with guano — Benefit of guano to all 
Long Island soil — Great benefit on turnips. 

Jamaica, L. /., Sept. 13, 1852. 
Mr. Theo. Riley, Esq., Dear Sir ; — In reply to your inquiry relative tQ 
the use of Peruvian guano on Long Island, I would say, forming my 
opinion from experience and observation that the mode of tillage — the 
rotation of crops, and the way of applying guano — are about as follows: 
Commence with corn, which is usually on green sward, after being 
mowed and pastured from four to six years. First, plow in the spring 
as soon as the frost is out of the ground, which is generally about the 
20th of March. Prepare the ground for planting the 1st of May, by 
harrowing well two or three times. Before the last time harrowing, ap- 
ply about 250 or 300 lbs. of guano to the acre, sown broadcast, and then 
mark out with plow, or lace, about four and a half feet apart, each way ; 
apply a small quantity to the hill, one third of a gill is as much as will 
be safe, and that should be in the form of a ring about a foot in diame- 
ter, and the corn dropped in the center, otherwise it will be likely to 
kill the corn by the sprouts coming in contact with the guano when 
they first start. It will not do to put the guano in the hill and plant the 
corn upon it. It was not uncommon for farmers to have to plant their 
corn all over before they become acquainted with its effects ; but as 
using it in the hill, in a pure state, is generally attended with some risk, 
it is the practice in this vicinity to use yard manure, at the rate of 
one third or half a shovelful to the hill; but as that manure is gene- 
rally weak, they have adopted the very excellent plan of sprinkling 
say 50 lbs. of guano to a wagon load (30 bushels) of manure. As we 
cart the manure in the fall to the field where it is intended to be used 
the following spring, (1) the guano can be mixed through it with but 



88 

little trouble, when it is turned and broken up just before use. It 
adds very much to the value of the manure, as the difference of har- 
vesting plainly shows. Mucli or pond dirt could be used in the same 
way, in place of manure. Some apply it about the hill at the time of 
hoeing. It should not be thrown on top, but sprinkled around the corn 
at the rate of half a gill per hill. After corn, we sow oats, or barley, or 
plant potatoes; if oats, plow once, sow 150 or 200 lbs. of guano, and two 
bushels of oats to the acre, and harrow in together. It pays well to use 
guano for oats, as the crop of oats will be doubled on ordinary lands; 
60 and 60 bushels is frequently obtained, and the difference in the 
straw, is worth the expense of the guano.(2) Barley is not much sown ; it 
would require a little more guano, say 60 lbs. additional. Potatoes, 
(Mercers) we plant from middle of March to first of May, after sowing 
broadcast from 400 to 600 lbs. of guano per acre, plowed in and harrow- 
ed over; then mark out with plow three feet apart, drop in drills about 
a foot apart. Some prefer it in the drills, at the rate of what they can 
grasp in one hand to a pace of two and a half feet; it should be sprin- 
kled so too much will not come in contact with the seed. After oats or 
potatoes, sow wheat, about first of October; if on oats, plow as soon as 
the oats are off; when ready to sow, apply from 500 to 700 lbs. of guano 
per acre, cross plow, and your ground is ready for the seed. As to the 
varieties of wheat, there are several kinds used; the Mediterranean .is 
the most popular at present — one and a half bushels is generally sown 
to the acre, and the land laid down to grass, with timothy and clover. 
Some apply less at time of sowing, and add 100 or 150 lbs. per acre in 
the spring, just as the grass is starting, say first of April. If wheat is 
sown after potatoes, about the same treatment is given, except 100 lbs. 
less guano will answer. Some harrow in guano, instead of plowing it 
under; but experience shows that it is much the best to plow it in, as the 
virtue remains in the ground much longer, by being covered deep. Pe- 
ruvian guano will produce the best wheat of anything we can use, even 
if we should go to double the expense with other manures. Crops of 
30 and sometimes 40 bushels have been obtained to the acre with guano. 
The average crop of wheat on the Island, is not over 18 bushels per 
acre, and with 700 lbs. of guano plowed in pretty deep, the land can be 
mowed about as long as from an application of stable manure. But as 
hay is a most important crop, after it has been mowed for two or three 
years, it is considered profitable to top dress with about 150 lbs. per 
acre ; this will increase the crop from one ton to two per acre, if a fair 
season, and can be mowed two or three years longer. Eye is sown in 
many instances, in place of wheat; it gets the same treatment, except 
half the quantity of guano is only used. Buckwheat requires about 100 
lbs. of guano to the acre, more or less, according to the state of the land. 



89 

For ruta baga turnips, there should be 600 lbs. sown to the acre; plow 
twice and harrow well after sown. After you have hoed them out, give 
them a light top dressing of more guano, I have raised at the rate of 
700 bushels, managed in that way, to the acre. We have had one of 
the most extreme drouths the present season I ever remember. Crops 
on which guano was used, have suffered less, and are now yielding bet- 
ter than where stable manure has been used. This is quite different 
from the opinion that some have formed, as to guano requiring a wet 
season. To prepare guano for use, it should first be sifted, to separate 
the lumps, so that they may be pulverized, then dampen by sprinkling 
with water, and mi.xed through with a shovel. This should be done a 
few days before you wish to use it, so as to allow the dampness to strike 
through uniform.(3) I have not had any experience with compost, or 
using it on garden vegetables, or plants, except I know it should be 
used in homeopathic doses, or it will destroy more than it will produce. 
As to the soil, guano answers well anywhere on Long Island, although 
some parts of the Island has a very different soil from others, with one 
exception ; that is, it is all hungry for manure. I therefore do not know 
the kind of soil it is most applicable to, since it seems to suit all kinds. 

Seth Chahman." 
Note 1. This practice of hauling manure to the field in the fall, is the 
worst of all the foolish old fashions of farmers. To preserve the virtue 
of manure, it requires housing about as much as hay. In fact, il is 
doubtful which would lose virtue fastest, a pile of hay or a pile of ma- 
nure, exposed to the storms of winter. It is no wonder that it becomes 
necessary to mix guano with it, to replace that which has evaporated 
during its long exposure to sun and storm. 

2. This increase of straw, is seldom taken into account in speaking of 
the advantage of an application of guano ; yet, as Mr. Chapman says, 
it is worth enough in the vicinity of a market, to pay the whole expense. 
It is also valuable in the interior for forage and manure. 

3. This is an error. Guano should not be damped unless with water 
saturated with salt, copperas, or a liberal sprinkle of plaster over the pile. 

LsTTEK FROM Seth Raynor, ov Manorvh-le to Mr. Chapman. — Success- 
ful experiments on grass, oats, corn, wheat and rye. 

" Manorville, Sept. 8, 1852. 
S. Chajman, Esq. — Dear Sir; — I have received your circular propos- 
ing to gather information from practical farmers of the results from 
the use of guano, and to have the same published for general circula- 
tion. Conceiving the object to be a very laudable one, I will give the 
result of a few experiments tried with Peruvian guano by myself, and 
others which have come under my observation; but in doing so I think 



90 

it would be of great utility to state what kind of soil the guano was ap- 
plied to. Not being a professor of geology, I can only use such terms 
as are familiar with farmers generally. The soils in this vicinity are 
heavy loam, sandy loam, sandy, and occasionally some heavy clayey 
soils. 

First, as to the nature of guano. If is generally considered to be more 
of a stimulant than an enricherof the soil, if applied in its natural state, 
and much more durable to be plowed in than to be harrowed in ; and 
as far as 1 have tried it, I have not found it to be injurious to soils — 
or as some call it, ' kill the soil.' In the year '49 I applied on the first 
of April, 176 lbs. per acre on sandy loam grass ground — yield, about half 
a ton more than the acre adjoining. Same year applied about 150 lbs. 
to the acre, on four acres of oats, same kind of soil, and the estimated 
increase was 20 bushels to the acre. In 1850 plowed under 400 pounds 
per acre, for corn, estimated increase, 15 bushels of ears. The season 
was rather unfavorable for corn. In '51 composted six bushels char- 
coal dust to 100 lbs. guano, and plowed under for wheat, at the rate of 
600 lbs. of guano so composted, to the acre, and top dressed with 100 
bushels of leached ashes — yield, 20 bushels. One of my neighbors ap- 
plied for three years in succession, 100 lbs. harrowed in with rye, on 
two acres light sand — yield, 14 bushels to the acre; 10 bushels more 
than the acre adjoining. On the fourth year he sowed the same ground 
without guano — yield, 4 bushels to the acre. We see by this, that the 
crop used the whole strength of the guano. Another neighbor applied 
one ton to two acres, heavy loam; plowed under and sowed with tur- 
nips (common Russian) — yield, 1,300 bushels — estimated increase from 
the guano, 600 bushels. People in this section of the Island are agreed 
in this — plow under guano for durability, and harrow in for present 
benefit, or present crop. For wheat, 500 lbs. plowed in is considered a 
full dressing per acre. The same for corn. For oats, 200 lbs. harrowed 
in. For buckwheat, 100 lbs., and 200 for barley. One tablespoonful 
applied in a hill, for corn, is quite enough, and that requires to be put 
some six inches from the seed; otherwise it will kill it. Some have 
lost acres by putting their corn on that little qayiv.i-y; the only safe 
way to apply in the hill for potatoes, is the sa-jx as for corn. I have 
come to the conclusion from what experience 1 have had with the arti- 
cle, that it answers the best purpose to use it for spring crops, in the 
manner above stated, or compost it with charcoal dust, or well decom- 
posed pond mud, to absorb and retain the ammonia, it being very vola- 
tile in its nature. I have not written this for publication; I have only 
thrown out a few hints for you to embody. Seth Ratnor." 

Although the above was not written for publication, we prefer to give 
it just as it was written, in the plain style of one farmer to another. 



91 

[nteresting Letter from Edward H. Seaman, Esq., Sec. of Queens Co. 
Ag. Soc. — Successful experiments since 1847 — Great increase ofstraw 
and wheat — Harrowing in guano, 300 lbs. to the acre, produced 41 
bushels of wheat. Increase, seven bushels for each 100 lbs — Thirty 
bushels of wheat per acre on an old worn out buckwheat field — Ad- 
vantage of guano in drouth — astonishing effects from top dressing grass. 

Cherrywood, Sept. II th,, 1852. 

Mr. Seth Chapman — Dear Sir, — I forward according to request, the 
results of several years use of Peruvian Guano, upon my farm at Jeru- 
salem, Long Island. 

The first decisive benefit from guano that I shall notice, was obtained 
from using it for wheat, as a top-dressing. In 1847, October 1st, I took a 
field containing 6 acres of oat stubble, on which I used some manure, 
all over the field ; top-dressed with Peruvian guano, at the rate of 300 lbs. 
per acre, sown (fortunately just before a storm,) upon the furrow and 
harrowed in with the wheat. Four acres of the field were sown with 
the old-fashioned red flint wheat, which requires more manure than any 
other kind among us. The rest of the field was sown with a soft white 
hulled wheat, the name of which I do not remember. July 5, 1848. — 
Harvested said field — Red^wheat yielded well from straw, 14 sheaves to 
the bushel — white wheat 20 sheaves to the bushel — straw very large 
and thick. Had 164 bushels of wheat, or 41 bushels per acre; and 68 
bushels of white wheat or 29 bushels per acre; without the guano I 
think I could not have obtained much over 20 bushels per acre. — 1848, 
Oct. 2. Again sowed wheat upon a six acre lot of oat stubble; seed red 
flint wheat — manured about the same as previous year — used 300 lbs. 
guano per acre, as top-dressing for 4 acres and moss bunker fish dirt at 
the rate of 10,000 per acre upon the two acres, sowed upon the furrow, 
and harrowed in just previous to a storm — Harvested the 10th of July 
1849. The straw very large, and wheat heads long, but grain very 
much injured by fly or weevil — very little difference between fish and 
guano top-dressing; yield 188 shocks — 175 bushels; not quite 30 bushels 
per acre. Same ground would not have produced more than 18 to 20 
bushels wheat per acre without the guano — or some other more expen- 
sive manure. 1849. Oct. 3. Sowed wheat upon oat stubble field ; soil 
thin and gravelly upon part of the field — used some barn-yard manure, 
but not as much as previous year. Top-dressed with 300 lbs. guano and 
12 bushels ground bones per acre — Harvested 12th July 1850 — Yield of 
5i acres 160 shocks ; injured some by weevil, and shrunken, but had 145 
bushels or twenty-six bushels per acre. This ground would not have 
yielded fifteen bushels per acre without the guano. But the most deci- 
sive result was obtained the next year, upon aji oat stubble field of six 
acres, a part of which had been cropped, for perhaps 15 years, nearly 



92 

alternately with rye and buckwheat; (sometimes a crop of each in one 
year.) The whole field seemed so far exhausted that we had failed to 
get a crop of corn or oats from it after two different trials; and I under- 
went no small share of ridicule from my neighbors, while preparing it 
for wheat. Remarks like the following were of daily occurrence — "Ah 1 
Seamen you will fail this time." " You have not got your old highly 
manured fields to exhaust this time by your stimulating stuflf!" "We 
shall now see whether guano is good for anything — this will be a fair 
test, because the land will not produce anything without it, &c." " You 
may get about 12 bushels of wheat per acre; we shall see." All agreed 
however, that if wheat did grow, guano should have the credit for it. 

Well, we prepared the ground in about the usual manner, except per- 
haps plowing a little deeper than in former years. A small quantity of 
manure was plowed under, and a top dressing of ground bones given and 
sowed about the last of September — 2 acres with Mediterranean and 4 
acres with the red flint wheat — but owing to a scarcity of the article, 
could only get about 420 lbs. of guano, which was sown across the field 
upon not quite 3 acres, covering some of each kind of wheat; it was 
sown upon the furrow, and harrowed in with the wheat as usual. In 
1851, April 11th, top dressed the whole field with guano, at about 200 
lbs. per acre; harvested about the 8lh July. The 2 acres of Mediterran- 
ean yielded 61 bushels; flint wheat straw very large, and thick upon 
the ground, but grain much injured by the weevil; yielding an average 
of 23 bushels per acre. I may remark, -that where the guano was ap- 
plied in the autumn, the crop was quite one third greater than where it 
only received the spring dressing. The last year I managed much in 
the same way, except that I fell short of manure, and depended entirely 
upon guano and bone upon a part of the field, from which part, though 
I have not yet threshed it, I think I shall get 18 to 20 bushels. The rest 
of the field was very large and considered the best between this place 
and Brooklyn, on a road of 25 miles in length. 

My good luck (1) at wheat growing is now a conceded point. Now for 
other crops — for corn I have not been very successful; generally mixing 
some guano with earth in the hill at the time of planting and getting 
but few plants to stand ; these, however, generally have been heavily 
eared. By mixing previously with charcoal dust I think this burning 
of the seed might be avoided. (2.) 

For buckwheat, I used 120 to 160 lbs. per acre, sown upon the furrow 
and harrowed in with the grain. For barley, 150 to 200 lbs. per acre ; 
oats 100 to 120 lbs; turnips, 600 to 700 lbs plowed under a short depth, 
previously to forming the drill ; and I find a decided profit in using gu- 
ano for all the above crops. I have seen a field of corn the present 
season very greatly improved in earing by the application of about 150 



93 

lbs. of guano, mixed with 5 parts charcoal dust, and thrown around the 
hills a few weeks since during a rain storm. 

T have also used guano and charcoal dust, five parts coal to one of 
guano, in my garden, the past season, and found the beds thus dressed 
stood the extreme drought better than other parts of the garden. One 
more case of my own and I am done. In 1851, I sowed about 90 lbs. of 
guano, on a piece of meadow or mowing ground, covering a little more 
than half an acre, from which the timothy and clover was nearly gone ; 
I took 3 lands across the lot, leaving about 20 feet between each land. 
Where the guano was sown, the timothy grew large and thick and bore 
the drought, and yielded about one and a half tons per acre; while the 
rest of the field did not produce more than half that amount, and that of 
an inferior quality of grass. The corn upon the same field the present 
season, shows plainly a better yield from the above top-dressing. From 
observation and experience,! would recommend the mixing of guano with 
charcoal dust, equal parts, or five parts coal to one guano. It is much 
more pleasant to handle when thus mixed, being completely deodorized 
and rendered much more enduring as a manure, by retaining the am- 
monia for several years, instead of allowing the greater part to pass off 
the first season, as is the case when applied in a crude state, especially 
as a top dressing. 

Prepared or decomposed muck if used with guano as a retainer of 
the volatile gases, in all cases where it can be conveniently obtained 
especially in soils where evaporation is so rapid as it is in most parts 
of Long Island, will pay. 

That like produces like, is a favorite maxim with me — that it is ne- 
cessary to replace the matter, both organic and inorganic, which we 
take from the soil in the form of crops, of various kinds — that by supply- 
ing the necessary chemical ingredients, we shall be able to draw a 
great proportion of our crops from atmospheric agents — that the neces- 
sity for using such an immense amount of organic matter as we now 
use in the shape of barn yard and stable manure will be partially over- 
come — that a great saving of expense will thereby ensue — that guano is 
one of the most active agents to effect such a result I am fully satisfied 
not sufficient perhaps of itself, but highly useful even in a crude state — 
and capable when skillfully combined with others, to effect an entire re- 
volution in our sytem of agriculture. 

If you think the above worth an insertion in the pamphlet you spoke 
of, you are at liberty to insert it — if not, you will please return the let- 
ter to me, as soon as convenient, and if you think it will pass off any 
better, you may affix the following signature to the communication. 
Edward H. Seaman, Recording Secretary, 

Queen's Co. Agricultural Society.. 



94 

Note 1. — Yes, that is the word — good luck — it is all good luck. It is 
astonishing how nnany farmers there are in this country who will stand 
with their hands in their breeches pockets, fumbling idle dollars, while 
a neighbor expends his for guano, and produces a fine crop of wheat 
upon an old worn out buckwheat field; at which they stare in stupid 
wonder at the good luck of the thing. 

What a pity it had not been the good luck of such men to have been 
born with common sense enough to profit themselves by their neighbors 
good luck. 

Note 2. — It would be far better to sow the guano broadcast and plow 
it in, or scatter it in drills and turn a light furrow on it before planting. 

" Hempstead, Aug. 27, 1852. 

Seth Chapman, Esq. — Dear Sir: — ^I believe I was the first person in 
Queens County using guano ; having imported some from England in 
the ship Yorkshire, in 1842. This was from the Ichaboe Islands. I 
have since used nearly all the varieties, and consider the Peruvian the 
cheapest and best. 

In applying guano, I think by making a compost, the greatest bene- 
fit is derived ; say one peck of plaster, one bushel of loam, two of saw 
dust, mixed up a month or six weeks before using. From 100 to 200 
lbs. of guano is enough for a crop of oats or buckwheat. I have not 
found it to succeed with corn or potatoes ; probably from being accom- 
panied by a dry season. The best wheat I ever raised was from using 
360 lbs. to the acre, composted. This was on a light soil, and returned 
31 bushels to the acre, on seven acres, weighing 62 lbs. The grass was 
poor after it. As a top dresser, I have used 200 lbs. per acre, very early 
in the spring, on half a lot, which mowed more than half as much again 
as the part not dressed. One of my neighbors has used 300 lbs. per 
acre, plowed in for potatoes ; the yield, good, so far, having just com- 
menced digging. John Harold." 

We might give much more evidence of the same kind, to prove that 
every barren acre upon Long Island, might be made productive by a 
judicious and profitable application of guano ; but if there are any per- 
sons, who, after reading these pages, are still doubting, we must say 
they are most incorrigably determined not to profit by the experience 
-of others. To such it would be useles to say more. 

Successful Experiment toith Guano as a Top Dressing on Wheat, in North 
Carolina. — On page 17, we gave some account of the application of gu- 
ano by Henry K. Burgwyn, Esq., since which, we have been favored 
with the following letter from his brother, T. Pollock Burgwyn, written, 
as will be seen, not for publication, but simply to give th« party from 
whom he purchased the guano, a detail of his success. 



95 

New York, Sept. 20, 1852. 

Messrs. A. B. Allen & Co. — Dear Sir : — Having promised tiiatl would 
furnish you witii the result of my application of the 21 tons of guano 
which I purchased of you last winter, I proceed now to do so, and 
give you full liberty to quote my experience in favor of the use of that 
most invaluable manure, to all who are anxious to profit by the expe- 
rience of others without incurring any risk of their own. My object, 
and it shonld be that of every one who has used guano, is to extend the 
knowledge of its great valae to any owner of poor soil, like the worn out 
plantations of North Carolina. I applied 20 tons of this guano as a top 
dressing to a field of 200 acres, which had been seeded in wheat under 
most unfavorable circumstances. At the time of application, so unprom- 
ising was the appearance of the growing wheat, that my manager and 
myself thought it almost a waste of money and labor to try this exper- 
iment, (1) but as the rest of my crop did not require any manure, I re- 
solved to see what would be the effect. I am confident the field would 
not have averaged, without the top dressing, seven bushels per acre — it 
yielded rather over 13 bushels, besides securing to me a full setting of 
clover. (2) 

My mode of application was as follows; to each 200 lbs of guano I 
added two bushels of ashes and a bushel of plaster mixed intimately, and 
then sown broadcast, at the rate of six and a half bushels per acre, har- 
rowed in with a light harrow. This application was made in March, 
and the early part of April, and in less than three weeks after the appli- 
cation, the wheat had undergone an entire change, from a yellow, sickly 
color, to a dark luxuriant green. The application had evidently infused 
new life and vigor into the plants, and as the result proved, very nearly 
or quite doubled its product. So much for the crop of wheat ; but what 
was still more valuable to me, in my system of farming, it likewise se- 
cured for me a full crop of clover, which would certainly have failed 
but for this application. I also applied one ton of this guano mixed 
in the same way, to a small field of oats. I plowed this under with a 
small plow, together with the oats; the result was equally gratifying. 
My chief object in this last experiment, was to secure me a small field 
of clover, near my stables, and in this I fully succeeded ; which I feel as- 
sured I should not have done but for the guano. My brother and my- 
self have made various experiments of late years, with guano, and con- 
cur in the testimony of all those who have tested its value, carefully and 
judiciously, in pronouncing it to be the most expeditious renovater of 
the soil within the farmer's reach ; and exclusive of the farm yard, the 
most economical of all manures. In proof of my conviction of its value 
to me, I shall this fall give you an order for 20 or 30 tons more. I will 



only add that I consider every wheat grower who would study his 
own Interest, will find it by trying similar experiments. 

J. Pollock Burgwyn." 

Note 1. In a subsequent conversation with Mr. Burgwyn, he stated a 
fact which makes this point much stronger. After ordering the guano, 
he left home, giving his farm manager orders to apply it to that partic- 
ular piece of wheat as soon as it arrived. Owing to the fact that the 
seed was injured — that the land was in a very unfit condition from pov- 
erty and drouth to produce a crop of wheat, it had assumed such a mis- 
erable appearance before the arrival of the guano, that the manager 
wrote to Mr, B. his opinion of the utter folly of applying anything so 
expensive to a crop already struck with death. Not imagining how 
very unpromising was the prospect of success, Mr. B. immediately wrote 
to him to go ahead as directed. Before the application was completed 
he returned home, and his first impression was to stop the work at once 
and give up the field as lost; but on examining the effect upon that 
part where the guano was first applied, he found it had already infused 
new vigor into the plants, for they had put off their sickly yellow color, 
and taken on a vigorous green ; and therefore he decided at once to go 
on, which as will be seen by the result, was a most valuable decision. 

Note 2. From personal knowledge of this very field, we are confident 
it would not have yielded without the guano, one half of seven bushels. 
It is a flat surface, clayey loam, and badly affected by winter rains, and 
such freezing and thawing as it had during the last severe winter. Be- 
sides it was a few years since, when it came into the possession of Mr. 
Burgwyn, one of those old worn out, skinned-to-dealh places, so common 
in that State, which all the deep plowing and good farming of that gen- 
tleman had not been able to restore, until he luckily hit upon guano ; 
whijh notwithstanding the most unfavorable circumstances, has given 
him conclusive proof of its inestimable value. To say nothing of the 
ten bushels of wheat per acre, which we are confident he gained, the 
clover is worth more than the guano cost ; and without if, one might al- 
most as soon expect to grow clover upon Coney Island beach, as upon 
that field. 

This letter contains testimony of inestimable value. It comes from 
a gentleman of intelligence and careful observation, who is devoted to 
his profession of a farmer, and who has been one of the most successful 
renovators of worn out plantations in the south, and it comes very oppor- 
tunely to give our work an appropriate Finale. 









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